


Fullmetal In New York

by Seasilver



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, No Peter Parker, No Slash, No love relationships, Parental Roy Mustang, Work In Progress, strictly a avengers and fma cross over, strictly platonic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:14:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 30,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23086834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seasilver/pseuds/Seasilver
Summary: Edward was following his orders and one thing lead to another. Now he is stranded in New York and has no way to get back home. The only thing he can do is cooperate with the local authorities and superheroes.The art is not mine nor fullmetal alchemist or the avengers, I only own the story line
Relationships: Edward Elric & Roy Mustang, Edward Elric & Tony Stark
Comments: 28
Kudos: 260





	1. A Long Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Guys! ^_^, heres my next crossover, it'll updaate every thursday, toodles!

"Brother, are you sure you should be walking around?"

Alphonse's metal feet trailed after Edward as they walked to central. The sky was a gray and overcast, the clouds were dense and seemed to be full of rain just waiting for gravity to do its magic. Edward walked down the sidewalk with his hands down in his pockets and his jacket wrapped tightly around himself. Edward felt his automail ports thrummed with his heartbeats, which only added to his pounding headache. Acknowledging Alphonse's question, he growled out his answer

"I'm fine Al, it's just a small cold. Let's just hurry up and go to Colonel Bastard so we can get this over with."

He stayed silent for a little bit, the silence was filled with the rumbling of thunder paired with the hollow footsteps of Alphonse. Lightning crackled in the sky, illuminating the somewhat dark street. They turned onto a new street and right ahead of the two boys was Central, where Mustang was waiting for Edward to give him his new assignment. Alphonse looked at his brother’s slightly limping gait. If he didn’t grow up with him, he never would have noticed his pain. However, just like Edward hates to be called short, he hates to be babied

"Are you sure brother? It looks like it's going to rain soon, I know that hurts your arm and leg because of the automail."

Alphonse's usual childish voice seemed to annoy to him, Edward didn't turn around to look at his brother as he answered his question in a harsh manner. Most times, Edward wouldn’t answer his brother in such a hard way and at the back of his mind, his conscience was telling him to quit his shit but he didn’t care in the moment.

"More of a reason to hurry up and get this over with! Come on Al, hurry it up!"

Edward ignored the small sigh of defeat and walked ahead of Al into headquarters, Edward could hear his hollow metallic footsteps behind him, walking quickly as Alphonse tried to keep up. As they were climbing up the stairs, Edward heard Alphonse's footsteps slow down before he walked away from him. Curious on what he was doing, Edward turned around to see where he was. It rare for Alphonse to do something without saying anything so he was a little bit worried.

"Al?"

Edward called out his name as he noticed Al at the bottom of the stairway, crouching by a couple of trash cans. At the angle, Edward couldn't see what was in his hands but could hear him whispering something. Edward sighed heavily before walking down a step to get closer, he called out to him, he was done with life a while ago, and he wanted to lounge around in his room. Alphonse doing things like this was prolonging his lounging around.

"Al, what are you doing?"

Al's figure stiffened up when he heard his voice. He turned around slowly and seemed to be hiding something. He fidgeted nervously and pressed his index fingers together in a bashful way. Alphonse found a nice little animal he wanted to keep and to do that, he wanted to make sure that Edward didn’t find out until they had no choice but to keep it.

"Nothing brother."

Edward stared at him suspiciously but deciding that he could deal with it later, Edward shrugged it off. He rolled his eyes before turning back to the stairs, calling over his shoulder to his younger brother.

"Whatever, just hurry up, I want to get back to the hotel before it rains."

Edward turned around and started to walk up the stairs. He can feel his stumps aching with the low pressure that came with rain. As the brothers walked down the hall, Edward nodded his head in acknowledgment to the soldiers that did the same to him. Edward and Alphonse walked into Mustangs office and sat down on the couch. Only Jean, Mustang, and Hawkeye were in the room. Mustang was reading a paper at his desk with Hawkeye standing by his side, ensuring that he was doing his work. Jean was doing the same at his respective desk. They all looked up when they walked into the room and as he sat on the couch, Edward heard jean slide his chair out behind before walking over to the young brothers.

"Hey Ed, how going?"

Jean cheerfully greeted them as he walked up behind Edward and slapped his right shoulder in a friendly manner, any other day, Edward would have returned the greeting, but this time, he just gritted his teeth in pain and let out a small groan as Edward glared at him. He shrunk back from his glare as he was both confused and surprised that Edward had glared at him for touching him. His eyes drifted off to Alphonse, who was sitting on the opposite cough behind me. Edward heard Alphonse say before saying in a tone that belittled him.

"Jean, it's going to start raining soon."

He had a face of realization when Al told him and then started to rub the back of his neck in embarrassment. He smiled nervously as he tried to apologize. Edward didn’t openly flaunt his automail outside of fights so it was relatively easy for the lot of them to forget that he has automail

"Oh, sorry about that man."

As much as it hurt, Edward couldn't stay mad at him at his display of regret. He sighed before crossing his arms and looked forward again.

"It's fine, just don't do it again."

Jean smiled in relief and went back to his desk and started to work again on the never-ending supply of paperwork. Edward uncrossed his arms and put them behind his head before putting his feet onto the table. Edward turned his head to look at Mustang, who seemed to be mildly annoyed that the younger alchemist had put his feet up. Edward smiled inwardly as he managed to annoy him once again. Alphonse noticed his brother’s behavior and merely sighed as there was nothing he could do to change his brother’s ways.

"So what's the deal Mustang? Why did you call us here?"

He sighed and set his paper down onto his desk before he stood up, walked around his desk, and leaned against it, facing Edward and Alphonse. He looked back at his desk momentarily to grab a file and opened it up, his eyes scanned the paper as he spoke to his subordinate. Whereas most times he had some joy to give Edward assignments as he knew he would argue with him just to spite him. He had a frown set on his face with his eyebrows furrowed in concentration and what seems to be frustration. Edward blinked in surprise as he realized that he know Mustang way too well as he could tell that Mustang was not happy at all.

"Well, Fullmetal, the research department wants your help with a new transmutation circle that is supposedly has the ability to teleport objects to another location that has the same transmutation circle."

The brothers stopped in our tracks and stared at Mustang. They don't even know the details but they already knew that it sounds like a terrible idea. Those researchers are going to get someone killed. They are probably breaking multiple laws of nature and then some. Who’s the idiot that let them do this?! Edward took his feet off the table and put his hands on his knees as he turned his body to face Mustang more.

"You're kidding, Mustang, we both know that it will not work. That is breaking multiple laws of physics and then some!"

Mustang pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed loudly. Mustang himself was having a hard time believing that the research department told him. Mustang may not be a prodigy like his younger counterpart is but he knew enough that what the research department was attempting was deadly. There is a good reason why the original pioneers of alchemy constantly replaced their assistants or got replaced themselves.

"I know that already Fullmetal, almost all of the state alchemists have been trying to convince the research department that the only thing they're going to do is kill someone. But nevertheless, they continued with it anyway."

Mustang held his hand out and Hawkeye gave him a packet of paper. He held it out to Edward to grab it. Edward eyed it for a little bit, reconsidering if he really wants to grab that folder and commit himself to this mission. Mustang noticed his look and motioned for him to take it again, with a sigh of well-hidden reluctance, Edward got up with a huff, grabbed the paper, and sat back down.

"In there, it tells you what you are going to do and where you are going to do it."

"Ok."

Edward skimmed through the paper to the back where it tells him what exactly he is going to do. It looks like Edward just has to activate the circle. Edward groaned and rubbed his face in despair. This has over a 50 percent chance of going wrong. Even if he wasn’t the one activating it, Edward would still at risk just by being close to the failed circle. And to make things better, he has to go to lab six right now in two hours. Edward got up from the sofa and threw the folder onto the desk.

"Mustang, you seriously can't expect me to go through with this?! This is suicide!"

Mustang looked unhappy about it as well. He had a stoic face but his eyes betrayed him, the rest of the room was looking at the two alchemists with some uncertainty. It took a lot to get this type of reaction out of Edward in the terms of alchemy. So that means whatever they were talking about, they were talking about something they’re should be worried about. 

"I know Fullmetal, but this is what happens when you are a dog of the military."

Edward could have bristled at that statement. He gritted his teeth and stared at Mustang with a deadly glare. Mustang stared back, refusing to let the younger man win at this little contest.

"...Alphonse, wait outside for a minute."

If Alphonse had eyes, he would have blinked in surprise. The rest of the room was surprised as well. Edward never kept Alphonse out of the loop, never. And to hear the older brother send his brother out, made that pit in the bottom of their stomachs get a little bit bigger

"What, but why bother?"

"Just do it, Alphonse."

Alphonse considered rebelling against his brother for only a second before grumbling to himself and walking out of the room. The sound of the door closing was quickly replaced with the uneven footsteps of Edward walking towards Mustang. The fellow soldiers could be seen taking glances at each other in the background. 

"Mustang, we both know what the chances are of this going wrong."

Mustang nodded grimly at this, the chances of death was far too high for anyone with a brain and a sense of self-preservation to feel safe about it. 

"Yes, what does that have to do with Alphonse?"

Edward stared at Mustang for a little bit longer as he tried to formulate what exactly he wanted to say in his head. There was a lot of things that he wanted to say but he decided to get the most important things out first.

"Promise me Mustang, promise that if anything happens to me, Alphonse will be fine."

Mustang’s mouth fell open as he realized that Edward was trusting him with his only remaining family. He was amazed that he had gained the young man’s trust enough to take care of his only family. But he still had protest what he was saying, he didn’t feel confident enough to properly care for a little 14 year old that was missing his body.

"But Edward, w-"

Edward quickly cut him off, not willing to hear his superior try and wiggle his way out of caring for his brother

"But nothing Mustang! Alphonse is my little brother. The chances of rebound for this fucking experiment is high. They are just as high as me not making it out alive. Promise me, that if I can't take care of Alphonse, that you will step up. Promise me that you will take care of Alphonse."

Mustang decided that he had to take on the responsibility as the superior officer of Amestris's youngest state alchemist in history. He nodded his head

"Alright, I promise I'll take care of him if anything happens to you."

Edward gave a small sigh of relief as he felt his body relax. He was just about to leave when he remembered his research.

"One last thing, if anything happens to me, make sure Alphonse gets all of my research notes. All of them, especially my travel log. "

Mustang nearly smacked himself for forgetting so important and quickly agreed that Alphonse would be the person who gets all of Edwards’s belongings. Although he is going to have to be quick about it before the military claims it as their own property.

"Alright."

Edward gave Mustang a small grateful smile before walking out of the room, running into his brother that was in the hallway waiting for him. Now that it was over and done with, Edward could feel the signs of sickness entering his body again and was ready to just get everything done with. Alphonse noticed the brisk pace his brother was walking at.

"Brother?"

Edward just walked past him, making Alphonse a tad bit flustered as he caught up.

"Come on Al, let's get to the hotel room before going to the lab."


	2. The Gamble

Edward dragged himself into the hotel room. The headache he had earlier seem to make his entire head pound and he swears he could feel his eye balls pounding along with it. As a final addition of the pain cocktail, the rain that was coloring the clouds finally started to make its descent to the ground, making his missing limbs more obvious than usual. Alphonse looked at his brothers slumped shoulders with uncertainly, wondering if it would be a good idea for his brother to perform alchemy in this state.

"Ed, are you sure? You're starting to look pale and now it's raining."

Edward sighed in frustration, he definitely didn’t want to do this mission, and his little brothers nagging only made him more annoyed. He glared at the wall that was in front of him instead of his brother and answered his question.

"Look Al, I have to do this. Now stay here, we can't risk your blood seal washing off because of the rain."

Alphonses jaw would have dropped if he had one. It was barely drizzling outside and it was deemed dangerous? Alphonse stammered as he tried to get his words together in time before Edward left to the lab. Edward listened to his stammering as he started to gather up his stuff lest he dies and his brother gets to keep all of his belongings. Edward stopped as he realized that it was quite a morbid thought, he was quickly distracted by his younger brother though.

"But brother, it's barely a drizzle!"

Edward took the time to dry off his jacket along with any other damp clothes before answering his brother, putting on his jacket and gloves as he did so.

"Stay here Al."

Alphonse was just about to protest his brother’s demands when a very loud meow came from his body. The meow echoed in his hollow chest and seemed to reverberate around the room. Edward stopped in his tracks before looking at his younger brother, who seemed to be practically sweating bullets.

"Al...Do you have another cat in your armor?"

"…No brother."

It if was possible, Edward could actually visualize the sweat that was coming off of his brothers head. Edward jumped back in surprise as he saw his little brothers head fall off before getting replaced by the head of a small blue eyed ginger that was making his presence known in loud and annoying meows. Edward started to laugh hard enough to make him cough as the sight of a giant armor being controlled by the head of a small kitten was fucking hilarious. Edward just kept on laughing as he saw Alphonse frantically try to catch his head, fail, and then try to put his head back on. Edward only stopped laughing when the small kitten came to him and pawed his left leg. With a smile on his face, he picked up the small and slightly dirty animal and cradled it. Edward blinked in surprise when he realized that the small kitten had gotten comfortable and was purring against his chest.

"Aww, she likes you."

Edward gave a gentle smile at the sight of the young kitten against his chest.

"Heh, I guess she does."

Although Edward wanted nothing more to just curl up into bed with a nice thick blanket over him (maybe play with the kitten as the same time) he looked at the clock and realized that he could be there for a little while longer before he had to go. Gently setting down the kitten on the blanket, Edward grabbed a piece of paper, wrote down something, before folding it up and handing it to his little brother. Alphonse looked at the paper curiously and Edward took this chance to go ahead and get ready to leave.

"Al, if anything happens to me, give this to Mustang,"

Alphonse looked down at the note in curiosity and was going to open it but stopped when he saw the glare from his older brother

"What is it?"

Edward was already out the door before Alphonse even realized it. He said one last final thing before walking out and closing the door behind him

"Don't worry about it, anyways I have to go, see ya,”

Despite Edward illness, he could feel fear filling his body. He knew what the effects a rebound could have and he was definitely not looking forward to it. The best case scenario is that it works, the bad scenario is that he dies, and the worst case scenario is that he goes back to truth to have a little chat with him. He walked out of the hotel room before he got choked up. Edward could hear Al's protests and questions. He managed to leave the hotel before Alphonse got outside so he could follow him. The chances are high that something goes wrong. But maybe truth will decide that he wants to see Edward suffer more before he dies so everything might go well.

* * *

Edward arrived to the lab slightly soaked. But he keep on his coat anyway as he wanted to get the hell out of here as soon as he was done with the bullshit mission. A guy in a white coat escorted him to a huge room with a transmutation circle drawn onto the floor. Edward observed the circle for a little bit, walking around it to make sure that it looked as solid as it could before talking to the person who looked like the head of everyone. It looks like to be a normal circle, but upon closer observation, he realized that some of the wording was different. Edward was kneeling next to the circle, one hand on the ground right outside of it. He called over his shoulder to the closest researcher.

"If I understand everything correctly, you want me to activate this circle?"

"Yes Fullmetal, just activate it and allow us to throw small objects into it. We already have another alchemist activating the second circle in another location."

Edward looked at the circle one more time before sighing and standing up, ready to perform the transmutation.

"Ok then, everyone stand back!"

All the present researchers stood away from the circle as far as they could while also being close enough to observe what happens. After making sure there was no piece of trash or anything else that could affect the process. Edward slowly lowered his hands to the circle, hoping that this circle wouldn’t kill him so he can live to see another day.

When his palms touched the circle. It turned blue and a portal formed in the middle of the circle and everything was stable. Edward could hear the researchers cheering as it worked. He felt a wave of relief wash over him but at the same time, Edward could feel the effects his cold was having on him. He stood up wearily when he heard the head researcher behind him.

"Now that it worked, it can solve a lot of its problems."

Edward turned around with a tired smile on his face, relieved that he can live to see another day and that he’s able to go home now.

"Yeah, it's great that you accomplished this. If you guys manage to reproduce this, it'll be much easier and faster to deliver objects."

Edward turned back to the circle to admire it and stayed like that until he felt a hand around his leg. Before Edward could even see what was going on, he was in the air, heading towards the middle of the transmutation circle. Edward just managed to turn his body to see what was happening. Where the head researcher was standing, he could see that Envy was there now, with a demented smile. Behind him, he could see the horrified faces of the rest of the researchers proving to him that this was not planned at all. It was likely that Envy had taken out the original before taking his place. Before he could stop himself from going through the portal, Edward was engulfed in the black of the transmutation circle.

He scolded himself for putting his guard down, furious that he had really let that happen to him. Edward looked ahead and saw nothing but black. Edward tried to look behind, but it bore the same result. Edwards face twisted into a frown and he gritted his teeth in frustration as he realized that this was this way he was going to die.

The slight prick of light made Edward look up and realize that he was quickly getting closer and closer to the light. As the light came closer, Edward was able to hear sirens and the honking of cars through the quickly approaching light.

As soon as Edward passed through the lights (No he didn’t close his eyes out of fear thank you very much) he realized that he was falling into an alley. With a small spark of panic and hope, he tried to grab onto the metal fixtures that were fixed onto the wall. He only managed to grab it before him momentum made him lose his grip. He ended up landing on some disgusting, but some life-saving trash bags before he just laid there in pain. Wondering if he should be happy that he survived a 20 foot fall from a portal by landing on some trash bags, or if he should be upset that he survived a 20 foot fall by landing on some trash bags. Edward groaned in pain and tried to stand up after a while. He stumbled to his feet while using the wall as his support. He noticed with some disdain that his right eye was burning and had red tinted vision, his arm refused to move and he could tell that something was loose and the rain here just made his stumps ache even more. And to top it all off, he could feel a sharp pain in his ribs whenever he took too big of a breath. The rain made the ground slick and Edward journey to the opening to the alley a little bit more difficult. Not paying attention, Edward let out a string of tired curses as he stepped on a can and slipped, making him fall heavily onto his side. At that point, Edward injuries and cold was taking its toll, and he just couldn’t fight the sleep that was coming onto him. His body felt heavier than Alphonse’s armor and his eyelids just refused to stay open. By now, Edward was only able to say one more thing.

'Truth, you're a bitch."


	3. The Alleyway

Tony and Steve went out to go eat lunch and were walking back to the car, discussing about certain topics on the way there. The two of them were having a pleasant talk while trying to get back to the car as fast as they could to avoid the impending rain that was coming.

"What about Thor? Where is he?" Tony sipped at the soda that was in his hand, his eyes on the gray overhead sky

"He’s back home, and unless you can use that shield of yours to travel to another dimension, we won't be seeing him anytime soon." Steve was looking around, although he’s been out of the ice for a while now, he still liked to see if there was anything new about the world.

"What about Natasha and Clint?"

"Natasha is on a mission in Europe, Clint is back with his family, but I think he's supposed to be back later on today or tomorrow." Tony sighed before looking at Steve with an exasperated look on his face.

"Are me, you and Bruce are the only ones at the tower then?"

"Yup" Steve popped the p at the end and the two of them kept on walking in a comfortable silence. Tony looked up at the sky with a small curse as the rain started to come down lightly. He was just about to urge the two of them to hurry up when he realized that he couldn’t hear or see Steve walking next to him anymore.

"Steve?" Tony had his head on the swivel, trying to find out where his museum worthy friend went. He turned to look behind him just in time to see Steve disappear right around a corner into an alley.

"Steve, what's up?" Tony tried to catch up to his friend in a job, turning the corner to see Steve standing over a fellow blond in red who had collapsed.

"What's wrong with her?" Tony called out to him as he got closer to him. Steve looked over his shoulder to make sure that Tony was on his way over before turning back to the unconscious kid.

"Well, he seems to have a fever and he also has a small gash on his forehead." Steve turned the figures head, giving Tony the ability to see that it was indeed a young man covered with sweat and has a gash on his temple. The boy looked to be around 14 years old and was wearing pure black and leather clothes, the red coat he was wearing only made him stand out all the more. Tony frowned as he saw the pale face and slightly flushed face of the kid.

"Let's take him to the hospital." Steve perked up at Tony suggestion but dismissed it, it would be much faster for the two of them to take the kid back to Bruce.

"No, there's too much traffic, let's just take him to the tower, closer."

"Whatever you say cap." Tony tried to pick up the kid, looping his arms under his knees and shoulders. He only managed to get him a couple of inches off the ground before he stopped. He could tell by the strain on his back that the kid was way too heavy for him to pick up himself.

"Oh shit, he's heavy."

"Language." Steve said that automatically without thinking and just watched Tony as he tried to pick him up one more time before putting the kid back down with a huff

"Oh enough with that, here, he's too heavy for me to carry him to the car." Tony stepped back for Steve to pick him up. Steve rolled his eyes before picking him up, taking note that the kid was much heavier than he expected. He let out a grunt in surprise before standing up completely, the boys head leaning against his chest

"You're right, he's too small to be this heavy." Tony nodded his head in agreement before motioning Steve to follow him and to get out of the rain.

"We'll find out later, come on, let a take him to Bruce so he can figure out what's wrong with him." Steve nodded his head in agreement and followed Tony to the car. Steve set him down on the seat and strapped him in. Other than the fact that he had dried blood on his head and had a slight fever, he looked to be fine. Tony sat down in the driver's seat and pulled into traffic. He looked at the young man in the back through the rearview mirror. Tony chewed on the inside of his cheek as he observed him, he didn’t look like he was from the streets, but he also didn’t look like he was from a well off family.

"What do you think happened to him?" Tony looked at Steve out of the corner of his eye as he turned the corner onto the next street. There was a lot of traffic and Steve was right in saying that it would be better to take the kid back to the tower instead. Steve looked back at the kid and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, but for now, he seems to be fine. He doesn't look like he's from around here."

"Yeah you have a point there."

As they finished their conversation. Tony pulled into the parking lot for avenger's tower. When he parked, Steve got out and took the young man into his arms and into the tower. Tony had to open the doors and stuff for him but he has his hands full anyway. They took the private elevator to the living area to prevent any questions or rumors from any of the staff. Their entire journey was made in silence, except for small thanks yous and you're welcome here and there. By the time they got to the third floor, the young man was starting to stir. The two of them thought he was going to wake up and stiffened up but he quickly fell back asleep. When the elevator stopped, they walked out and saw Bruce was in the kitchen. Steve headed over to the infirmary while Tony grabbed Bruce, who was happily making himself a sandwich

"Hey Bruce, we found this kid in an alley, can you come and check him out?" Bruce looked up from his sandwich making session and Bruce looked at Tony with a look of confusion but came along.

"Sure, but why didn't you take him to the hospital?" Tony shrugged his shoulders as they walked to the infirmary together

"We were closer to here than the hospital." He nodded his head in understanding. By the time we got to the infirmary, Steve had already taken off the teenager's jacket and had laid him onto the bed.

"Is this him?"

"Yeah." Wordlessly, Bruce started to inspect the young man. He check his eyes with a small flashlight.

"His pupils are equally reactive so that's a good sign." He checked the gash on his head. He noted that it was going to need a few stitches. He grabbed the kid’s wrist to check his heart beat.

"What?" Bruce looked at the child’s arm in confusion.

"What's wrong?"

"It feels as if his arm is covered with metal." They were all confused at that answer. Bruce took off the boy’s glove to see what was under it. Instead of seeing pink flesh, we saw cold grey metal. The man's hand seemed to be made of metal, completely. Tony and Steve stood up to get a closer look. Bruce started to roll up his sleeve to get a better look.

"This kid’s entire arm is made of metal, it goes up to his shoulder." Bruce pulled back the man's shirt to show where the metal connected with flesh. The other two helped Bruce as he started to remove the man's outer shirt so his entire arm was revealed. In the man's black undershirt. They were able to see that his arm was quite elaborate and looked to be complex. Even in his unconscious state, they could see the fingers moving as if it was grasping something

"How is he even able to move it?" They didn't answer Bruce's question but instead, Tony grabbed a screwdriver and started to mess with his arm. Despite the other twos protest and scolding.

"Tony! Don't mess with it! You don't even know how it works."

"You can't tell me you're not curious about this too banner?"

"...Well I mean."

"Then be quiet and move over." Tony slipped past banner and started with a screw near his shoulder. It came loose, but not completely, half way out, it just stopped, as if it was designed to happen that way. Tony stopped messing with it and stood back up.

"This arm of his is extremely complex, should we wake him up and ask him if we can study it?" Steve rolled his eyes at Tony’s suggestion

"Don't be ridiculous Tony, that's his arm for god sake."

"Yeah you're right Steve."

Tony picked up his arm out of curiosity and discovered that it was the main reason why he was so heavy. The three of them heard a loud clank and Tony felt a sudden pull on the arm as he lifted it up further. Tony looked at the arm and at the man.

"TONY WHAT DID YOU DO?!" The man's prosthetic was now detached from the man. Tony almost dropped it out of surprise but grabbed it before it touched the floor.

"THAT'S IT, BOTH OF YOU GET OUT!" Bruce took the arm from Tony and set it onto the table and before pushing the other two out of the room towards the door.

"I let you guys in here and you literally tear someone's arm off. Get out." Bruce pushed them out and closed the door behind him. He also covered the curtains so they wouldn't be able to see what's going on.

"Really Tony? Did you really have to mess with the man's arm?"

"Shut it cap."


	4. Awake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long, ive been changing the story from first person into third person.

_Italics means Jarvis is speaking_

Edward opened his eyes to see that he was laying on a bed, surrounded by strange technology. Edward sat up almost immediately on the bed, before curling in onto himself in pain. His ribs really did not agree with that sudden movement. And like any sane person would, he immediately noticed that his arm was missing. He started to frantically look around for the metal appendage and let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it was on the nearby table. Now that he knew where his arm was, he started to do a small inspection of his body. He gingerly felt his forehead, where he could feel a throbbing pain emanating from above his eyebrow. He was surprised to feel the bandage that was covering it, and even through the cloth, he could feel small stitches above his eyebrow. Edward started to move around to wake up his body and to get the blood flowing before pushing the blankets off of him and getting up to go and get his arm. He gathered all of his belongings into his single arm before hugging it close to his body. Between his jacket, gloves and metal arm, it was a little bit of a struggle. Edward eyed the arm and his port, wondering if he should put it in in that moment. But quickly decided against it, he would try to get to a save place before putting it back in.

Edward eyed the door before looking out the small window it had, happy to see that no one was out there and that the hallway was empty. If you asked Edward how he managed to open the door with jacket, gloves and arm in hand, he would have dismissed your question, the only important thing is that he was able to open it. He walked down the hall cautiously, turning left once he saw that the hallway to the right was a dead end. He stuck himself close to the wall, slowly getting closer to the light that was showing at the end of the hall. His body becoming more and more tense as he was able to hear at least two different voices at the end of the hall. As he got close enough to look around the corner, he stopped and took a look. He saw three men in a circle further into the room. They were speaking in a language that Edward didn't know (Despite his vast amount of knowledge.). They seemed to be having a small argument about something. When one of them pointed towards the direction that Edward came from, he knew that they were talking about him

Edward looked at them closer. One man had blue eyes and was tall with blond hair. His hair was neat and he had a body of an athlete. The other was a little bit shorter with brown hair and eyes with a beard. He was built but not as much as the blond guy. The last one, he had glasses with brown hair and eyes. His hair seemed to be a bit messy along with his clothes. This guy is probably a scientist of some sort

Edward looked around the room and saw that there was another exit in front of him but he had to cross the room they were in without seeing the teenager with minimal cover.

'I guess it's a good thing I'm so small.'

Edward stopped when he realized that he just thanked his lucky stars that he was small, something that he was not happy about. Edward turned around to go back from where he came from, only to smash his nose against a wall he’s positive was not there earlier. Said wall was oddly warm too. Edward looked up at what he ran into and if it was any other moment, he was have given the purple clothed man with brown hair and blue eyes a nervous smile. Before Edward could even take a step back to avoid the hand, the hand came down onto his shoulder, making a jolt of pain go through his body as his ribs made themselves known once again. The man called out to the other three men, who Edward heard say something back in their odd language. All of them saying something in a surprised tone

As Edward heard the footsteps behind him, he bit the man's arm with (As he thought, human doesn’t taste good). Once he let go, Edward turned around and started to run to the exit. The blond narrowly avoided the taller blond man. Edward heard one of the men yell something and jumped as the door in front of him was blocked with a metal slate. Edward skidded to a stop and back into the door as the four men started to advance, the tamest looking one, the one with the glasses, was trying to get closer to Edward, with a concerned look on his face.

Edward looked at them, realizing that he had one of two choices. He could let the men grab him, or he could put on his automail and get out of there. Edward looked at the men, before looking at his detached arm and looked at the men once more time. The man with the glasses seemed to know what Edward was thinking and started to frantically shake his head no to discourage the young man.

Edward took a deep breath, wishing that he had some of that liquid courage the adults seem to like so much, before pushing the arm back into his port. The pain made Edward stifled a scream of pain, stumbling forward in pain, almost falling into the mans with glasses until he caught himself. He looked up at the men, almost feeling nervous at the fighting stance they were all taking. Edward didn’t wait for them to make the first move, instead, he clapped their hands together, the characteristic ringing sound going throughout the room before slamming the onto the floor. The others watched in shock at the floor started to rise up to form a cage around them. Edward stayed kneeling on the ground, watching the trapped men as they tried to comprehend what just happened. The man, who seemingly pulled the bow and arrow out of nowhere, let go an arrow towards Edward, who just calmly used his alchemy to create horizontal bars close enough to prevent the arrow from going through. Of course, he was a little bit too slow, so the forming metal bar just clipped the end of the arrow, making it change its trajectory to hit Edward metal shin. Edward just smiled at them before pulling out the arrow. The metal of his leg could be seen through the tear in his pants, making the robin hood impersonator scowl.

"Now if you excuse me, I'm going to get the fuck out of here.” Edward smiled at them, much to their displeasure, and turned around to the locked door. Edward felt his smile turn into a frown before he looked over his shoulder and pointed at the door.

"Whoever did this, unlock the fucking door. “Three of the men looked at the man with the beard and he put his hands in defense. Edward didn’t need to know their language to know that something was wrong. Edward looked back to the door and rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"Well if you won't open it, I'll do it myself." Edward slammed his hands against the door as they crackled with alchemic energy. The metal plate that covered the door slowly turning into a metal spear. He realized what a bad idea it was to perform alchemy while sick as he felt a bout of dizziness hit him like a truck. Groaning softly, Edward leaned his head against the spear and groaned at the sudden nausea.

He saw the man with glasses waving his hands frantically as he tried to catch Edwards attention. The man was saying something in his language and Edward didn’t know what the man wanted until he turned to see the man motioning for Edward to come closer. Edward rose an eyebrow at the gesture.

"There's no way in hell I'm getting closer to you guys. I don't know who you are and I don't intend on finding out". Edward watched the man with the beard tap the guys shoulder to tell him something. Edward watched impassively as he saw the bearded man say something in his language louder, tilting his head up as if he was talking to someone above him.

 _"We mean you no harm."_ Edward felt the hair on his neck bristle as he heard the deep voice throughout the room. Chopping up the pronunciation horribly. He had his head on a swivel as he tried to find the owner of the voice, his body already in a fighting position.

"Who else is here?" Edward listened to the voice as it repeated something in the voice repeated something in another language. The men in the cage nodded his head and the bearded guy said something.

_"My name is Jarvis, I am an AI."_

"What's an AI?" Again, the voice seemed to relay what Edward was saying to the men and they seemed to tell the voice what to say.

_"It means Artificial Intelligence, what happened to you."_

"Long story short, I fell 20 feet into an alley after I fell from a portal. Where am I?"

_"You are in New York City in The United States of America."_

"I never heard of it." The voice relayed the conversation to the men and they looked at the teenager with shocked looks and looks of disbelief. The tall one with blond hair was the one who started talking.

_"Where are you from?"_

"I'm from Amestris." The men looked at each other when Edward said his point of origin. The shorter man with blond hair started to talk this time.

_"What's your name?"_

"Why should I trust you with that?"

 _"What is your name?"_ Edward sighed in frustration and exhaustion as he knew he wasn't going to get anywhere with that harvis or whatever its name is.

"Edward, Edward Elric."


	5. Names

_Italics means Jarvis is speaking_

_"He says that his name is Edward Elric sir._ "

"Jarvis, ask him if he'll let us out of here?"

 _"Right away Mr. Rogers."_ They stayed silent as Jarvis talked to the blond-haired man. The man stared at them for a little bit and then opened his mouth to talk.

 _"Mr. Elric has said that he'll let you out if you tell him what you did to his automail and if you let him put handcuffs on you."_ They started to talk amongst themselves, debating what they should say and do.

"Is his arm automail?"

"I mean it sure sounds like it, Tony did unscrew a screw near his shoulder, and then it fell off." Once Bruce finished his sentence, Clint stared at Tony with a look that look amazed combined with annoyed

"Seriously Tony, you messed with his arm to the point that it fell off?"

"Shut it Clint, Jarvis, just tell him for now that I loosened a screw near his shoulder. What do you guys think?" Steve was the first one to start talking.

"I think we should agree with him, besides, he's weak from his injuries and fever. Let's just let him put on the handcuffs to gain his trust."

"Hold on there a second super soldier, me, Bruce, and Tony just can't break off the handcuffs like you." Clint was cut off by a clap and a ringing noise. They all looked over to the man to see that he had a screwdriver in his hand and the spear was gone, it seemed as if he was screwing the screw back into his arm.

"And we have to ask him about that, no human being should be able to transform materials like that." Tony stopped as he realized that Bruce had made an excellent point. Making up his mind, Tony called out to Jarvis.

"Jarvis, tell him that we'll agree to what he says if he tells us how he does that."

_"Right away sir."_

"Are you sure about this Tony." Tony looked over to Steve to see that he along with the other two looked worried.

"It's our only choice unless you want to stay like this until Natasha comes back?" Tony shrugged his shoulders.

_"Mr. Elric has said that it's called alchemy, he wants to put on the handcuffs on you first Mr. Stark."_

Tony nodded his head in response and although he was a little bit confused how a lost science could do that, he didn’t show it. They all watched the kid as he clapped his hands again and used the oddly big screwdriver to create four pairs of hand cuffs. When the blond got closer, they all took a step back as he started to fuse the horizontal bars into the vertical ones. Tony eyed the kid as he stuck his hands through the bars to get the handcuffs put on. Tony was a little bit salt that the kid wanted his hands tied down first but took the chance to observe the young man. He was around 5'6 and he looked to be around 15 years old. His eye color was weird, last time he checked, no one had natural golden eyes.

He handcuffed Tony’s hands together. He motioned for the others to stick their hands. They looked at him uncertainly and then slowly stuck their hands so they could get handcuffed. Once he was done. He walked to the end of the room. About 20 feet away from the cage and lowered his hands to the ground. Slowly, the bars disappeared into the ceiling. But they stayed where they were, only taking a few steps away from each other to give each other some more space.

_"Mr. Elric is requesting a glass of water."_

"Tell him that there are water bottles in the cabinet to the left of him." They watched as he walked over to the cabinet and grabbed a water bottle and downed it on seconds.

_"Mr. Elric expresses his gratitude. He is also asking for your names."_

"Just tell him our names, tell him that we can help him if he lets us. We already know that he's sick and that he's hurt."

_"Yes, Sir."_

"Why are you being so nice Tony?"

"That's rude Clint, and besides we don't know his full abilities. Let's just get on his good side for now."

 _"Sir, he accepts your help, however, he wants Mr. Banner to be the one to help him. He'll take off Mr. Banners had cuffs in return."_ They all looked at Bruce, he looked nervous but he nodded his head to show that he'll do it. He walked over to the man. Bruce held his hand out to shake his hand. The man looked hesitant at first, but he slowly stuck out his left hand to shake his. The man used his power to take off Bruce's handcuffs. They listened as Bruce asked him what was hurting. After Jarvis translated that his ribs were hurt, Bruce held his hands up to show that there was nothing in his hands and then slowly started to poke his ribs. Bruce stopped once the man twitched in pain. We saw the man start to talk to Bruce and Jarvis translated, but it was too quiet for us to hear. Bruce talked to him back and the man had a thoughtful look on his face. It was a couple of minutes before he nodded his towards Bruce. Bruce nodded his head in response and walked back over to the other.

"What did he ask you about?"

"He asked if you and the others were trustworthy. I managed to convince him to trust us." Clint slapped Bruce on the back.

"That great Bruce! So, when he is going to take off his handcuffs"

Bruce looked back at the man and motioned for the man to come over. The man came over and one by one, he started to take off the handcuffs. Once they were off, he offered his hand to shake their hands. The blond shook Tony’s hand last and said something that he couldn’t understand.

 _"Sir, Mr. Elric said that you were the one who messed with his arm. He knows it was you because you have the exact same look in your eye that his mechanic gets."_ Tony gave him a bashful smile and said sorry. Once Jarvis translated, he smiled and said something back. But in the middle of it, he started to shake a little bit and then returned back to normal.

 _"Mr. Elric requests of you that you do not tinker with his automail anymore as it is very sensitive and very delicate. He also notes that if it was to break, his mechanic would kill him along with his superiors as he no longer has days off."_ Superiors? Steve and Clint met Tony’s gaze of confusion.

"Jarvis, ask him what he means by superiors."

 _"Of course, Mr. Rogers."_ They listened to the foreign conversation between him and Jarvis as he asked the man the question. The man responded and then pulled something out of his pocket. It was a silver pocket watch with a chain with a symbol engraved onto it.

"Mr. Elric has stated that he is a state alchemist, the military gave him the title The Fullmetal Alchemist."


	6. Explanation

_Italics means Jarvis is speaking_

As soon as Edward pulled out his pocket watch, he heard Jarvis finish his translation when the four of them started to stare at him. All of a sudden, the tallest blond man, who Edward think his name is Steve, stepped towards him and grabbed him by the shoulders and yelled something at him. His grip was too strong and started to hurt the blonde, especially since his port was still a little bit tender. Edward winced in pain and the older man immediately let go of him. Edward stepped back from them and gently grabbed his right shoulder. Banner and Steve started to ask his questions.

 _"Mr. Rogers wants to know why you are in the military. And Dr. Banner wants to know if Mr. Rogers hurt you."_ He grabbed his right shoulder and slightly winced in pain. Edward turned to look at the men and Steve and Banner looked to be worried.

"Tell Dr. Banner that I'm fine, my arm is still tender from reconnecting my arm. And tell Steve that I joined when I was 12 years old, I've only been a part of it for 3 years now, and I joined for my own personal reasons." Banner and Steve still looked worried and they both started to ask questions again.

 _"Dr. Banner wants to know why it hurt to reconnect your arm and Mr. Roger wants to know how you were able to join the military."_ Edward was somewhat off put by the questions, almost everyone knows about automail and almost everyone knows how Edward was able to join the military, it was all over the country after he made history by becoming the youngest state alchemist.

"To get automail, you have to undergo surgery to connect your nerves so you can move it. When you connect the automail, you are activating all the nerves at once, it's a very painful process and it usually leaves your port to be tender. As for how I was able to join the military. To become a state alchemist, you have to pass a test. There is no age limit to the test so I was able to take it when I was 12 and pass it. That's how I joined the military." It took some time for Jarvis to relay what Edward said to them. This time, it was Tony who asked the question.

 _"Mr. Stark was wondering what exactly is alchemy?"_ Edward had to stop for a second and thought about his response. He didn’t want to reveal too much about his art.

"Well, alchemy is a science. It involves the analysis, deconstruction, and reconstruction of material. It requires you to know almost every element and what properties they have. That is how I am able to do this."

Using alchemy, Edward turned a pair of handcuffs into a small dagger and gave it to Tony. He examined it and gave it to the others.

"But alchemy has its limits, I can only change it into the equivalent mass and I can't change the intrinsic qualities it has. As an alchemist, you need a transmutation circle to perform these transmutations" Jarvis translated what he said and Tony once again asked a question.

_"What is a transmutation circle?"_

"Oh, um, I need some paper and a pen." Bruce handed a notepad and a pen to him. He ripped out a piece of paper and set it onto the table that was nearby. He pulled a chair up to the table and everyone else did the same

"This is a transmutation circle, alchemists have to use this to transmute. Some wear gloves or gauntlets that already have the circle that they use engraved or printed onto it. Others will tattoo it onto their hands to save time." Edward drew a transmutation circle onto the paper. It was a basic one that he learned when he was younger.

_"Mr. Barton is asking you how you were able to draw such a perfect circle. Dr. Banner is wondering if you use a transmutation circle."_

"Tell Clint that it took years of practice, and tell Banner that I don't need to use one. “Edward grabbed his head as a pounding headache started to form.

"I'm sorry, Jarvis, can you ask them for some cold medicine and pain killers?"

 _"Certainly sir."_ Steve walked off and came back with a glass of water and 2 pills. Edward eyed them cautiously, he may trust them enough to explain stuff to them, but to take something that he didn't see them get. That is going to need some new trust. Edward looked at them warily. He looked back at the others and they were looking at him expectantly.

“This better not kill me.” Edward took the pills and swallowed them with the water.

_"Mr. Elric, Dr. Banner was wondering why you don't use a transmutation circle."_

"Well, that's a private matter, but long story short, I learned how to do it at a huge cost."

_"Mr. Stark wants to know how you know all of this."_

"Alchemy is very common where I come from, although, me and my brother learned our alchemy from another alchemist. I will never forget her." He ended that sentence with a shiver with the memory of her. She was a great teacher, but she was quite violent. Edward stifled a yawn with his hand, the events of the day catching up to him.

 _"Mr. Barton was wondering about your brother?"_ Edwards mood dropped when he mentioned his brother. He looked at the floor in shame. Scolding himself for letting his guard down and for letting Envy throw him into the portal. he just hopes that Roy will uphold his promise.

 _"Is something wrong Mr. Elric?"_ Edward came out of his daze and looked up, the four of them were looking at him with worried looks. He faked a smile and a laugh while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh yeah, I was just thinking, nothing to worry about! I was wondering if I could get some alone time?" The medicine was starting to make him drowsy either way. Banner stood up and motioned for him to follow him. Edward followed him down the hall. Edward grabbed his fallen shirt and jacket before continuing behind Banner. He ended up taking Edward back to the room that he woke up in. Edward thanked him as he walked out and closed the door behind him. Using alchemy, Edward sealed the door shut and created some bars over it, just to be sure. Edward tried to get comfortable on the bed, but he already knew that this was going to be a long night.


	7. Discussion

_Italics means Jarvis is speaking_

After Bruce took Edward to his room, he picked up the paper that he left behind. It had a geometric array in the circle and among the edges, there seems to be Latin written along with it. He set it back down onto the table.

"What do you guys think of him?"

"Well, for one I can't believe he's part of the military, how old is he, 15, 16? How could they allow him to join the military?"

"Don't get your panties a bunch Steve, you already heard how he was able to join the military, the real question is if he's a threat. What do you think Tony?" Tony stopped for a second and thought about Edward.

"I mean, he seems to be extremely intelligent, he said as an alchemist, you have to remember all the elements and their qualities. That itself is amazing. And this circle he drew, I doubt this is the only design. Just the fact that he is able to transform materials into other objects is a threat by itself. He can make all types of weapons with basic material." Clint and Steve seemed to mull over his response. Bruce came back and sat down with a sigh. He rubbed his face with both hands and looked over to the other.

"Well, that was a new experience, I don't think he trusts us completely as he used alchemy to seal the door. But that's to be expected. Where did he come from? He said that he fell from a portal." Steve was the first one to speak up.

"He said that he was from a place called Amestris and that he had never heard of the U.S. I wouldn't doubt it if he came another world."

"I mean, it's possible, we work with a Norwegian god for heaven sakes. I swear me and Tony are the only normal ones here." Tony decided to cut into the conversation.

"Ok moving on, why do you think he looked so depressed at the mention of his brother?"

"It could be that his brother is dead."

"Or it could mean that he's worried about his brother that he left behind. I mean he was alone when we found him, and he didn't say that he came with someone else." Tony realized that Steve was right. This Elric guy sure is a mystery. He looked at the clock and realized that time has passed by in a blink of the eye. Steve started to talk again.

"Well is he really part of the military? I mean, his clothes don't seem to be a military uniform. Not to mention, if he was in the military, I doubt they would let him keep his hair so long."

"Let's just trust him that he's telling the truth for now. He's trusted us so far." Bruce had a point but before he could continue Tony decided to cut him off.

"Guys, it's starting to get late, let's get ready for bed." Everyone looked at the clock that now said 9 PM. Steve stood up and started to talk.

"Tony's right, it's starting to get late. We can talk about this tomorrow. One by one, everyone stood up and told each other good night as they walked off to their rooms for the night. Tony was the last one to stay in the living room.

"Jarvis?"

_"Yes, Mr. Stark?"_

"Keep an eye on Edward, alert one of us if something happens to him."

 _"Certainly sir."_ Tony walked into room and into the bathroom. Getting ready for bed before laying in it. He thought about Edward while he was laying there in bed. Did he really fall through a portal? Considering that he never heard of the U.S, it's a possibility that he came from another world where there is not a country named The United States of America. And he's able to perform alchemy, in the past, it was just a science mixed with religion.

“Will we be able to get him back home? He never told us how he got into the portal. He never even told us how the portal came to be.” Deciding that he should go to sleep, Tony turned over onto his side and waited for sleep to take over.

* * *

Tony woke up to Jarvis opening his curtains and the light was coming in. He opened his eyes and sat up in bed. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was seven in the morning. It was rainy and gloomy outside, making Tony get out of bed to get dressed so he could leave his room.

He entered the living room and looked around. The only person that was there was Edward. He was wearing his black shirt and his red jacket while sitting on the sofa. He had the TV remote in his gloved hands and was staring at it. It looked like he didn't even know what to do with.

"What, you don't know how to use a T.V remote?" He jumped up in surprise and listened to Jarvis translation.

 _"Mr. Elric says that where he comes from, they don't have T. Vs, they have only advanced enough to have radios."_ Tony looked at him in surprise. They know enough science to use alchemy but they don't have TVs. But they are more advanced in prosthetics than they are. Talk about a surprise

"T-toony?" Tony realized that the weird pronunciation of his name came from Edward himself. That he was trying to say his name. Tony smiled at the attempt and corrected him so he could say it right. Edward tried to say his name again

"STony?" Tony slightly blushed and coughed into his hand. He has heard of what goes on in the internet. This time he said his name louder and clearer. **(I just had to do it)**

"Tony?"

"Yes! That's how you say it!" Tony smiley widely at Edward and he met his smile. He pulled out a piece of paper and made a T-chart. On one side, he wrote a word in an unknown language. He asked Jarvis something.

 _"Mr. Elric request that you write the word English on the right side of the chart."_ Tony nodded his head in agreement and grabbed the pencil from his hand. Tony wrote down the word English and Edward wrote two words down and gave the pencil back to Tony. The older man looked at him confusingly as he didn't know what he wanted him to do.

 _"Mr. Elric wants you to write down his name and your first name in English. The first word in his language is your name, and the second is his."_ Tony nodded his head and wrote down his name on the top.

"How do you spell his name in English?"

 _"It’s spelled E-D-W-A-R-D."_ Tony wrote down his name and pronounced it for him in English.

"Edvad?"

"No Edward."

"Edwad?"

"Edward."

"Edward."

"Yes, that's it!" they both smiled widely at each other, until Tony remembered Steves question about his uniform.

"You said that you are part of the military, is what you're wearing your uniform?" He listened to Jarvis translation and then he answered the question.

 _"Mr. Elric has said that since he's so young, the military uniforms do not fit him. Also, there are no military regulations for hair, which is why he's allowed to have his hair long."_ Tony nodded his head in understanding and was just about to ask him another question when he was interrupted by the sound of an empty stomach. Edward started to blush as his body started to preach to the world just how hungry it is. Tony chuckled at the sight of it.

"Do you want something to eat?" He nodded his head yes and stood up with Tony and we walked over to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat. Tony was walking in front of him when he heard a bang and a thump behind me. Tony turned around to see what was wrong. Edward was laying there on the floor with his leg in his hands and a pained look on his face.


	8. Milk

_Italics means Jarvis is speaking_

"Son of a bitch on a stick! Fuck that hurt."

Edward rubbed his port after he bumped into the chair. He just had to hit his leg port against the chair on the day it was raining. Of course, he did. But the falling onto his ass hurt much more. He looked up to see Tony was standing over him with a worried look. He extended his hand and helped Edward up onto his feet. Once he was standing up, he looked at the leg and then cocked his head to the side. Showing the curiosity in Edwards pain.

"Jarvis, tell Tony that I'm fine, my port is sensitive due to the rain and I managed to hit against the chair. It hurt more to fall onto my butt anyway." Tony looked relieved when Jarvis told him what happened. He slapped Edwards right shoulder making him groan in pain and he immediately looked apologetic. Edward gave him a half-hearted glare and motioned for him to keep on walking. He nodded his head and continued to lead the teenager to the kitchen. He sat Edward down on a stool. He started to look through the cabinets and pulled out a bowl, a box, and a container. He poured the contents of the box into the bowl and poured a white liquid into the bowl. He picked up the bowl and then grabbed a spoon and then set it in front of Edward. Who stared at it suspiciously. That white liquid looks a lot like milk. Edward picked up the spoon and spooned some of the floating things and the liquid and let it fall out.

 _"Is there something wrong?"_ Edward looked up at Tony and he was staring at him with a look of confusion.

"Ah, there's nothing wrong." He said this with a half-hearted smile. Edward looked back to the bowl and spooned some of it into his mouth. Making him immediately regret it. This is definitely milk. Edward covered his mouth with his hand and looked around for something to spit this out. He practically ran over to the sink to spit it out before rising out his mouth with water.

 _"Do you not like cereal?"_ Edward turned back to Tony and he had a disapproving look.

"Is that what's called? It's not that, I hate milk." Tony started to laugh and got closer to him and put his hand on top of Edward head.

 _"Well, it's no wonder you're so short."_ Edward felt his vein pop out in annoyance.

"Don't call me short."

_"If you drank more milk, you wouldn't be so short!"_

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MICROSCOPIC BEANSPROUT THAT YOU NEED A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO SEE!?!" Tony looked shocked at his outburst and then he started laughing.

 _"I didn't say any of that but ok."_ Clint, Steve, and Banner walked in with confused looks on their faces. They started to talk with Tony. Edward was able to tell by their hand motions that they were peeved about something and Tony seemed to be on the defensive. Bruce came up to Edward and motioned for him to stick his hand out. Edward stuck out his hand and he put something into his hand. It was a silver necklace. Edward looked at him with a confused look. Bruce looked at Edward expectantly. Making him realize that the older man wanted him to put on the necklace. Edward slipped the necklace over his head and took his hair out from under it. He looked back at Bruce and he seemed to be looking at him suspiciously.

"What, is the necklace supposed to do something?" Bruce started to smile and everyone heads snapped to Edward to look at him with amazement. Edward started to feel uncomfortable with their stares.

"Why are you guys looking at me like I just grew another head?" Tony walked over to Edward and slapped his shoulder. This time making sure to slap his left one.

"Well look at that, we can understand you now." When Edward was able to understand him without the help of Jarvis, it made him smile.

"Finally! I don't have to use Jarvis to help me talk anymore. " Edward stopped smiling and stared at Bruce for a little bit.

"What did you do to the necklace so I can understand you guys and vice versa?" He put his hands up in defense.

"I did nothing, a friend of ours left it in my room with a note that it'll help us talk to you." Steve and Clint stepped forward and started to talk to the teen again.

"Now that you can talk to us with greater ease, can you answer some of our questions?"

"Yeah sure, as long as you answer some of mine."

"Ok, how old are you?"

"You actually have the chance to ask me any question in the world to ask me, and you ask my age, I'm 15 why do you ask?"

"Well, Steve here, he doesn't approve of the fact that you are in the military at 15 years of age. But moving on, can you tell us more about alchemy?" Steve looked a little bit mad at Edwards answer but he decided to ignore it and answered Clint's question.

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

"Everything about it." Edward stopped for a second and looked at Clint before he answered his question.

"I would need over a year just to explain a small part of it. So, for now, I'll explain the basics. Alchemy is based on the law of conservation of mass. I cannot transmute let's say a small rock, into a boulder since I can't create or destroy mass." Everyone nodded their head in understanding so Edward continued with his explanation.

"There are many different types of alchemy, there is medicinal, biology and others. I just change objects into other things. But other alchemists specialize in different fields. For example, my superior, Colonel Mustang, he specializes in fire, so he is nicknamed the Flame Alchemist." They nodded their head again and this time Steve asked a question.

"Since you are in the military, is it common for alchemists to fight with alchemy?"

"Oh yeah, almost all state alchemist knows how to fight using their alchemy. Like I said last night, some alchemist has their transmutation circle at the ready. Mustang has a pair of ignition gloves with his transmutation circle printed onto them. He just has to snap his fingers and he is able to control the flames that come out of them." Bruce looked confused and started to look at Edward hands.

"I know you already told us this, but why don't you use a transmutation circle?" Edward stopped for a second to think about his response. He really can't exactly tell them how he gained the ability to do so.

"Well, I've developed the ability to use my body was a transmutation circle. It's very hard to get this, as far as I know, only me, my teacher and my younger brother is able to do it. I haven't met anyone else who has been able to do it too." They all looked impressed for a little bit and then Bruce started to ask him another question.

"Just wondering, is there anything that is forbidden to do as an alchemist." Edward stopped when he heard Bruce's question, the first thing he thought is human transmutation, Edward still answered his question but he made sure to make his tone of voice to be stoic.

"There is one thing that is taboo among all alchemists, Human transmutation. Almost every alchemist has died from trying to play god to bring someone back to life." They all noticed the difference in my voice and grew quiet for a little bit. We stayed like that until Tony spoke up.

"You said that almost all alchemists have died from doing that, do you know the few who have survived?"

"Yeah."

"And what happened to them?"

"One lost most of her internal organs and a pair of brothers. The younger one lost his entire body while the older brother lost his right leg. The older brother ended up sacrificing his left leg to bond his little brother's soul to a suit of armor. The younger brother no longer has the ability to feel anything. All three of them regret ever doing it. To make it worse, the thing that was the result wasn't even human. Everyone else has died from the attempt." Edward changed some of the facts a little bit so they wouldn't know it was him. Edward decided he needed some alone time.

"Is there anywhere I can take a shower?" Bruce stepped up to answer his question.

"Yeah, but won't your automail rust then?"

"My mechanic made sure to make them resistant to rust, they won't rust for a long time."

"Oh ok, then follow me." He led me down the hall and to what looks like a door. He pressed a button and the door slide open to reveal a small compartment. He walked him with Edward trailing behind him. He turned around to see an array of buttons on one side. Bruce pressed a button that had a number six on it. The door closed and Edward felt the two of them starting to descend.

"What is this?" Bruce looked surprised at his question.

"It's an elevator, do you not have these in your world?"

"No."

"Oh, then it's a pulley system that helps you go floor to floor without taking the stairs."

"Oh, that's smart." The door opened up to a hallway and Bruce walked out of the elevator. He lead Edward to the right and took him to a door.

"This will be your room, this floor is for guests, inside you'll find a bathroom so you can take a shower in there, and I assume you don't have any extra set of clothes?"

"Yeah, you assumed right. Well, thank you, Bruce."

"It's no problem, call one of us if you need some help. There will be some extra clothes in the dresser"

"Ok. Thank you" Bruce walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Edward looked around the room, there was a big bed in the corner with a nightstand next to it. There was a dresser opposite the bed. And a desk in the far corner. He opened the drawers to find clothes and pajamas that were too big for him. Edward grabbed some extra clothes and went to the bathroom. It was a basic bathroom with towels on a rack. He closed the door behind himself. Stripping out of his clothes, he slipped into the shower. As he stood in the shower under the hot water he started to think about how he was going to get home. How he was going to get back home? He tried to remember the circle that he used to activate the portal. But it was worthless, he couldn't remember over half of the circle. Edward finished in the shower and got out to dry himself off and he looked at the clothes that he grabbed. He transmuted them to be smaller so they could fit him. I put them on and walked into the room to sit on the bed.

"I don't know what's going to happen. But what I do know, is that I'm going to get back home."


	9. Car Ride

They watched Bruce lead Edward off again so he could go and take a shower. Tony stayed seated and continued to think about what Edward had said about the taboo for all alchemists. Human transmutation. He would have to guess that the crude equivalent would be human experimentation but the punishment is killing both the patient and the researcher.

"Why do you think he always leaves when the matter gets serious?" Clint's voice brought Tony out of his thinking and realized that he was right. Edward always left when the matter got serious. It could be perhaps that it just makes him realize his situation.

"I don't know, don't you think he's under a lot of stress? I mean, he left his world and is in a new world where he knows almost no one and he has no way to get back home. So cut him some slack, he's just 15 years old." Clint and Steve seemed to realize that Tony was right and they relaxed a tad bit. Bruce came back and sat down with them.

"I took him to the guest rooms and he's taking a shower now."

"Ok, is there any way we can help him get back home?" Everyone stayed silent to think about his question, Bruce was the first one to speak up.

"Thor can definitely help but we are going to have to wait until he gets back from Asgard. Dr. Strange was nice enough to give us that necklace so we can actually communicate with him better." They realized that Bruce was right and Clint started to speak this time.

"What if someone from his world came over here?"

"Wait, he never told us how the portal came to be, we should probably ask him about that." Tony realized that Steve was right. They heard a ding from the elevator and looked at it. Edward came out of it with a towel around his shoulders and his hair wet and loose. He was wearing his regular clothes again. He took a shorter shower than expected.

"Hey guys, do one of you guys have a hairbrush and tie I can borrow?" Steve stood up and went to his room for a second and walked out with a brush and string and handed it to Edward.

"Here you go, I don't have any hair bands though, will this string make do?"

"Yeah definitely, thank you." Edward put the string in his mouth and started to brush out the knots in his hair.

"Hey Edward, how exactly did you manage to fall into the portal that brought you here?" Edward had just finished brushing his hair and tying it into a braid and started to talk.

"I had been assigned to help out the research team by Mustang. I was supposed to activate a transmutation circle that it opened a portal. So, after making some arrangements in case something happened. I went to the research lab and activated the circle?"

"Wait, why did you make arrangements?"

"Well, Clint, it was an experimental circle. The chances of it rebounding and killing me were extremely high. I had my superiors agree to take care of my brother. But moving on, I activated the circle. Everything went fine, it worked perfectly. But then, one of my enemies who disguised himself threw me into the portal, and here I am." Ed had his arms crossed and he looked to be extremely mad that he had let himself get thrown into the portal.

"Anyways, is there anywhere I can do some research? A library or something? I want to see if I can find a way to get back home" Tony stood up and started to get ready to leave.

"Come on, I'll take you to the library, but first take off your coat, you attract enough attention as it is." Ed looked offended at Tonys comment on his clothes.

"Hey, my clothes are too badass to take them off. Who cares if they attract attention."

"Yeah, yeah, just take off your coat and I'll take you to the library." Ed begrudgingly took off his jacket and threw it at him. Tony caught it and threw it at Clint's head, making sure to throw it at his face. Tony looked back at Ed and he looked to be pouting. Edward walked forward and Tony rubbed Edwards head with his hand. Tony smiled knowing the reaction he was going to get from what I'm going to say

"Stop pouting like you're a little kid and let's go."

"DON'T CALL ME LITTLE!" Tony laughed as he walked to the elevator with him right behind me. Tony pressed the button for the ground floor and the doors slid closed. Since they were on the 7th floor, he decided to do some small talk.

"So how is your world like?"

"Oh, it's nice. My country is run by the military and we are having peace problems with one of our bordering countries but its fine."

"What about your parents?" He was silent for a little bit and started to talk. At first, he had a look of gentleness to his face but it hardened towards the ends of the sentence.

"My mother died from an illness, my dad left us when I was about 3 years old. Tch, he didn't even take responsibility of us when my mom died."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Anyways, is there anything I should know about this world?"

"Well as you can probably already tell, our technology is more advanced and alchemy doesn't exist. Although, you are going to have to hide your automail since it is much more advanced than the prosthetics we have."

"Makes sense, since alchemy doesn't exist here, I assume I won't be able to research anything about it?"

"I'm afraid not." He looked disheartened at the thought but quickly composed himself again.

"Damn, what’s the currency in this world?"

"Dollars."

"Does yen exist in this world?"

"Yeah, on the other side of the world?" They exited the elevator and Edward was walking right next to Tony. He rubbed his hair in frustration.

"Ah, I don't even know why I asked, all of my funds are in another world!"

"How much do you need?"

"Just enough to buy a few notebooks and some pens."

"I'll buy it for you."

"Really? You don't have to."

"No it's fine, I have enough money."

"Thank you.”

"No problem kid." they were walking out of the lobby at this point and Edward was looking at everything. It seemed as if his world was really behind on technology. Tony wondered if his world is in a different era or time period. Tony walked out of the door and held it open for him. they walked to Tonys car and got in. Edward looked amazed at everything. Once they buckled up and Tony pulled out into the street. Tony started to talk to him. He could hear him whispering that their cars were better than his.

"Hey, what time period is your world in?"

"Time period? We're in the year 1914." Edward almost pulled the car over to stare at him. It's 2013 and we don't even have the advancements they have in prosthetics. Just how intelligent is their world?

"What's the problem?" Out of the corner of my eye, Tony could see that Edward had a puzzled look on his face.

"Well, for us, it’s 2013 at the moment. You're about 99 years into the future."

"WHAT!" Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Ed was starting to freak out. Tony could head him mumbling someone thing. It wasn't until Tony paid attention was when he realized what he was saying.

"Carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, sodium, calcium, chlorine, helium, barium, beryllium, fluorine, xenon, neon, silver, gold, tin, aluminum..." He kept on mumbling more and more elements as he started to calm down. Tony took one hand off the steering wheel to put it onto his shoulder. He turned to him when Tony did.

"You got to calm down, how do you even remember all of those anyway?" He seemed to snap out of it.

"Oh, I've been learning them since I was about 5, I would hope to remember the entire periodic table after 10 years."

"You've been studying alchemy for 10 years already! I thought you said it was difficult to learn?"

"I mean it is, me and my little brother used to go into my sperm donor’s library to learn alchemy." He started to gently smile and his eyes showed that he was remembering something.

"It made my mom happy when we did alchemy, so we kept on learning it."

"That's sweet, what about your brother? What's his name?" His face fell in worry.

"His name is Alphonse and he's a year younger than me. I'm just worried about him. We have a lot of enemies that are going to take advantage of the fact that I'm gone. Granted, he can take care of himself and he's better at fighting than me. And the military should help protect him. I'm, I'm just worried for my little brother." He sighed and looked down. Poor kid has a lot of worries right now, his little brother, getting back home, any normal kid would have had a mental break down by now. Tony pulled up to a book store and parked. Ed looked up when he felt the car stop.

"Come on, let's go and get the stuff you need."


	10. Supplies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long, I kinda lost motivation to change it from first person POV to 3rd. 
> 
> Tell me if I missed anything or the POV changes -_-'

Edward followed Tony as he walked into the book store. As they entered, he heard a little bell ring announcing their presence. Tony looked back at Edward and raised his hand to point at something to the right.

"Over there are the notebooks and the pens, take your time."

"Thanks." Edward looked around and it looked to be a quaint little shop. It had lights and furniture that gave it a rustic and homely feel to it. He walked to where Tony had pointed and walked into the aisle to see a shelf full of pens and notebooks. He started to skim the selection. He grabbed a fountain pen with refillable cartridges and a couple of notebooks along with some loose paper. Edward looked around further and found a periodic table. He grabbed that and headed to the register. Tony was already standing there chatting with the cashier, he put everything down and Tony noticed the teenager.

"Oh Edward, this is Maria, she owns this little shop." Edward stuck out his right hand before switching hands to his left to shake her hand. She noticed it and started to frown.

"Well nice to meet you, is there something wrong with your hand?"

"Yeah, I sprained it earlier and I would rather not make it worse, sorry about that." Edward was impressed with himself that he was able to make up that lie on the spot.

"Oh ok, well just let me scan this so the both of you can be on your way." Maria finished scanning the stuff and Tony paid using a piece of plastic. She bagged edwareds stuff and when he went to grab it. She smacked his hand and shoved it into Tony's arms. Her cheeky smile telling them that she was enjoying the exchange.

"No way, he's hurt, you have to carry this for him." He just groaned and grabbed the bags. As they walked out, they said their farewells and started to walk to the car.

"You just had to say that your wrist is sprained huh?" Edward chuckled and looked at Tony, who seemed to be a little bit upset that he had to carry the kids stuff. Edward sighed and held his hand out.

"Here, the least I can do it hold my stuff since you bought it for me." He gladly handed the bag to him and they walked in silence. They were about 20 feet away from the car when Edward heard something running up behind him. Before he could turn around, he felt a hand on his ass and someone grabbing his waist. Edward could feel the person leaning against his back and whispering into his ear.

"Why is a pretty girl like you with an old ma-?" He didn't let them finish as he wrenched himself away from them. Trying to hold back his instincts to use alchemy to pummel them. he turned around to see and a blonde lady in t-shirt and jeans. Her face looked like she needed to wash her face every morning and then some. Her face twisted into a crooked smile that made his stomach turn.

"Oh you're a man, doesn't matter, I still want you." Tony stepped up was in front of him.

"Hey, leave him alone, if you try to touch him again, I'll charge you with sexual assault on a minor." Her smile only seemed to get wider.

"Been there done that, but now that I know that he's a minor, I only want him more." She licked her lips as she stared hungrily at Edward. Edward shivered in disgust. Without saying anything, he lowered himself to the ground using the pretense of tying his shoes and used alchemy melt her shoes the ground. Thankfully, the rain from yesterday was still present and he was able to cool it enough for her to get stuck. Edward stood back up and tapped Tony's shoulder, he looked back to him with a raised eyebrow on his annoyed face.

"Come on, let's just go, she's going to be here for a while.” He looked back at her melted shoes that were stuck to the cement. Tony noticed his gaze and discreetly looked at her shoes. His eyes lit up with amusement when he saw what Edward did. He nodded his head and turned around and started to walk back to the car. The teen turned around as well to start walking. he only looked back when he heard a thump and saw the lady on the ground trying to get her shoes unstuck. She had a face of rage when she looked back at him. Edward simply smiled and caught up with Tony. Once they were in the car, he pulled into traffic and drove away. He started laughing to himself.

"I can't believe you were able to do that to her shoes without noticing."

"It's taken years of practice and it's been worth it." He started to laugh and shook his head in what he assumed to be disbelief.

"Anyways, what are you going to do with this stuff?"

"I'm going to have to write down everything I know and then I'll work from there. I'll have to write down what I remember from the transmutation circle before I forget. Hopefully, I'll be able to remember most of it so it'll be easier to complete it. This is going to take a long time." Edward groaned in exhaustion and rubbed his face with his hands.

"I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out and get back home."

"Yeah, I just hope I'll be able to get back before my enemies decided to take advantage of my absence."

"Why do you have so many enemies?"

"Ah, well, let's just say I've poked my nose into business many times." Edward scratched his cheek in embarrassment. But continued

"And it happens to involve a countrywide conspiracy with immortal beings." Tony had already had his eyebrow raised in worry but he damn near pulled over the car.

"WHAT!"

"Well, it's not like I meant to, it just happened by accident." He continued to drive in silence.

"What are we going to do with you?"

"Help me get back home?"

"Well no shit, we'll talk about this later." Tony pulled into a tunnel and parked. Edward realized this is where they were before they left so he followed him to the elevator. Edward pressed six before he could press seven.

"Sorry, I want to get a start as soon as possible." He nodded his head and they rode up to the 6th floor in silence. When the door opened up, Edward walked out and said goodbye to Tony and asked him to say hi to the others. He walked to his room and closed the door behind him. Edward turned on the lights and sat on the floor. He cracked his knuckles and grabbed a pen.

"Let's get started."


	11. Sleep

Tony exited the elevator to see Steve and Bruce making food while Clint was taking a nap on the couch. Bruce looked over his shoulder to look at him as he walked in.

"Where's Edward?"

"He's in his room researching some stuff."

"I thought he was going to do that at the library?"

"Since the alchemy here isn't the same as his, it wouldn't have helped. I took him to a bookstore instead so he can buy some notebooks and pens." Steve stopped cooking and joined the conversation while wiping his hands on a towel.

"Does he know how to get home?"

"He said the only thing he can do for now is write down everything he can remember and then work from there. Apparently, he's been learning since he was five." Bruce looked confused.

"I thought he said it was difficult to learn." Shrugging my shoulders, Tony continued.

"He said that his brother and him would raid their fathers study and learned alchemy from those books. He said that alchemy made his mother smile so that's why he kept on learning it." Steve and Bruce smiled approvingly. Steve opened his mouth to talk

"That's sweet, does his mother know he's part of the military?" Tony faltered for a second before he started to talk again.

"His mother died when he was around seven or eight, his father had left them when he was three and didn't come back. Not even when their mother died." Bruce and Steve had a look of despair and horror on their faces, but Tony continued to tell them what Ed had told him.

"That's not all, according to him, he made a lot of enemies by sticking his nose into the wrong business. He's involved in a conspiracy that involves his entire country. He wants to get back home before they decided to take advantage of the fact that he's gone." Steve rubbed his hands through his hair and Bruce rubbed his eyes.

"And I thought dealing with us was a lot of work." Tony and Steve looked at Bruce and he put his hands up in defense.

"Hey, you got to admit, we are a handful at times." Tony sighed as he realized that Bruce was right. Steve simply went back to cooking which gave Bruce incitement to do so as well. Bruce started to talk to Tony.

"Go ahead and start setting the table, we are almost done. Wake up Clint and ask him if he wants to eat. Ask Edward too." Tony woke up Clint and he started to help Tony set up the table as he wanted to eat too.

"Jarvis?"

_"Yes sir?"_

"Ask Edward if he wants to eat?"

" _Right away sir....Mr. Elric has said that he's not hungry at the moment."_

 _"_ Ok." Tony finished setting the table and Bruce and Steve started to serve food. As they sat down to eat, Tony wondered how long it would take Edward to find a way back home.

**3 days later**

Tony laid down on the sofa bored out of his mind. Clint was surfing the channels across from him. Steve was in the training room and Bruce was in his lab.

"Hey, where's Edward, I haven't seen him for a while?" Clints question brought Tony out of his daze and made him realize that he hasn’t seen him for days already.

"Jarvis, what is Edward doing?"

" _He is currently writing down something in a book in his bedroom."_

"Ok. Has he been eating late at night or what, why haven't we seen him?"

" _Mr. Elric has not eaten for approximately 75 hours 30 minutes and 10 seconds."_ Tony sat up straight and Clint did so as well. Concern on both of their faces.

"When's the last time he slept?"

 _"Mr. Elric slept approximately 80 hours, 7 minutes and 3 seconds ago."_ Tony jumped up to his feet and so did Clint.

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

" _You didt not ask me to monitor Elric._ " Tony walked to the medicine cabinet and opened it up. He grabbed the aspirin bottle and dumped out the pills into a container.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to give him this bottle full of sleeping pills and tell him that's its pain killers." He nodded in understanding and grabbed the sleeping pills and helped Tony pour them into the bottle. Tony grabbed a bottle of water and headed down to his room. He told Clint to stay behind as it would be suspicious if the both of them went. When Tony got to his doors, he knocked and waited for him to open up. Edward opened the door and he was in the same clothes except he was in his undershirt.

He looked at Tony with tired eyes and mumbled a greetings. Tony stuck out his hand and he grabbed the pills and water bottle.

"I figured that you would have a headache so those are some pain killers." He mumbled a thank you and closed the door behind him. Tony walked down to the end of the hall and told Jarvis to tell Clint to meet up with him. Soon Clint came out of the elevator and walked over to Tony.

"Did he take them?"

"I don't know, did he take them Jarvis?"

_"Mr. Elric took them five minutes ago and is started to doze off at his desk."_

"Can you tell us when he falls asleep?"

_"Certainly sir."_

"And call Steve when he does, he's too heavy for the 2 of us to move him without waking him up."

 _"Yes sir."_ They waited in silence as they waited for Jarvis to tell them that he fell asleep. Not two minutes passed when Jarvis told them and Steve arrived from his training.

"What's going on?"

"The kid hasn't slept or eaten for the last 3 days. Tony just gave him some sleeping pills." He raised his eyebrow in worry and looked at Tony.

"I just need you to move him to his bed while we tidy up his room a bit." He nodded his head in agreement and they headed towards his room. Tony slowly opened the door knob to see the room was a mess.

There were crumpled papers everywhere, along with papers that had half-finished circles on them. Edward was asleep on his desk in the corner. His notebooks were on the floor open. Tony bent down and grabbed one of them. It was filled to the brim with notes in tiny handwriting. Tony looked at his other notebooks to see that they were in the same condition. He saw a paper that was a reminder to buy more notebooks.

Tony looked at Steve and Clint who looked to be just as amazed as he was. Tony stayed silent but motioned for Steve to move Edward to his bed and for Clint to start helping him pick up.

They all stayed still as Steve carefully picked up Edward's limp body and moved him to his bed. He covered Edward with blankets and started to help them. they put everything into three separate piles on the desk. The papers that had circles on them. The notebooks and the blank sheets of paper. They gathered all of the crumpled sheets of paper and put them into the waste basket. They all froze when they heard a voice.

"Al...Please...forgive me....don't hate me....mom! Please...come back..." They all looked at Edward. He had curled up into a ball and started to make small sobbing noises. They started to whispers amongst themselves.

"Should we wake him up, he hasn't slept in 3 days?"

"But it sounds like he's having a nightmare. Whose Al?"

"It's his little brother." As if on cue with Tonys words, Edward stopped crying.

"Al, you're back.....Winry......don't kill me......mmmautomail is the best."

"I think his nightmare stopped." They looked at Clint who was already at the door to walk out. Bruce said that he thinks it did too and started to walk out. Tony stayed behind one more time to make sure it was clean. He saw something shining near the bottom of the bed. He went to go and pick it up, when he picked it up, Tony realized that it was Edwards silver pocket watch.

It was a lot heavier than he expected. Tony looked at the intricate design. It was obvious that it was created by a master craftsmen. He pressed the top button to open it up but when he did, it didn't open. Tony looked it at edges and it seemed to be sealed shut. He looked back at Edward's sleeping figure.

‘Should I try to open it?’ Tony stared at it for a little bit longer and decided that Edward had sealed it for a reason. The last thing he wants to do is lose his trust. Tony set it down on the desk and walked out of the room. Leaving Edward to get some much-needed sleep.


	12. Fury

Edward opened his eyes and saw that he was in bed. He sat up at rubbed his head with his hand. Groggily, he looked around the room and saw that someone had cleaned it up. Now all of the papers were neatly arranged on the desk. Who arranged everything? And how did he get into the bed, he fell asleep on the desk?

Edward stood up and when he got out of bed, he realized that he smelled a bit ripe and needed to take a shower. He got up and slipped into the shower. While he was under the stream of water, he was thinking about his next move.

‘I should try to compare the circle to the others and see if they have the same arrays or format. Should I try the circle now? No that's stupid, I'll just get myself killed.’

Stepping out of the shower, Edward put on the spare clothes they gave him. They were really similar to his regular clothes. The only difference is that they weren't made out of leather and were made out of dark cloth instead.

Edward looked back at the desk, wondering if he should get something to eat. His stomach rumbled as if to demand food. Edward walked out of the room after pocketing his silver watch, deciding that he would get a bite to eat and then would get back to work.

Edward walked into the elevator and rode up to the 7th floor and walked out of it. The clock on the wall declared it to be seven in the morning. Edward walked into the kitchen and grabbed everything to make a sandwich. Once he finished it, he put everything away and ate standing up.

"So this is the infamous Edward Elric." He dropped his sandwich and got into a fighting position. In the far corner, he can see the faint outline of a man wearing black leaning against the wall. He started to walk forward and Edward quickly used alchemy to make the floor lock his feet in place. He looked down at his feet.

"Impressive."

"Who are you?"

"They haven't told you about me?"

"No." At that moment Tony, Steve, Clint and Bruce ran into the room. Tony looked to be pissed.

"What are you doing here Fury?!"

"Me? Nothing, I'm just here to determine if this visitor of yours is a threat." Steve stepped forward to talk to this guy.

"He's not a threat, if he was, he would have attacked us if he was."

"I will make that decision." They were all tensed up, ready to fight, Bruce looked at Edward and they locked eyes.

"Let him go."

"What? Why?"

"Just let him go, he's our boss." Edward huffed in frustration and returned the floor back to normal. The man just continued to walk forward to them and was finally in the light so Edward can see him. He had a black coat with a black eye patch over his left eye. He was bald and seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face.

"Now, as you know, the Avenger initiative is always looking for new heroes to join our force. Recently, a new villain has appeared with the same abilities as the kid here. And you know what they say, fight fire with fire. Based on the data you sent me, he is more than enough to take down this guy." He finished his sentence and Edward felt himself tensing up because if the possibility of another alchemist being here. Edwards stomach sank when he realized that he said the data that was sent to him. Edward looked at Tony and the others.

"You sent him data about me? We will be talking about this later." Edward turned away from their guilty faces and faced the man.

"What does he look like?" The man looked at him with a raised eyebrow and continued.

"So far, the only thing we know about him, is that he is able to create explosions with just his hands." Edward narrowed his eyebrows, its Kimblee, it has to be him, but what is he doing here?

"Do you know him?" Clint's voice brought Edward out of his thinking.

"Yeah, it sounds to be an alchemist from my world. If I'm right, his name is Kimblee, The Crimson Lotus Alchemist."

"He's a state alchemist?"

"He was one, state alchemist were used as killing machines during the time of war. Once it was over, he kept on killing people using his alchemy. He was locked up, but he was released." Clint looked surprised at his answer and the other looked furious, especially Steve.

"I'll help you take care of him, he's my responsibility seeing as he comes from my world." Steve looked appalled at Edwards suggestion.

"What! No! We are the adults here and we will deal with this problem."

"And you are adults that know nothing about Kimblee or how to stop him. I'm the only one who knows how to stop him."

"The kids right cap." Steve huffed in frustration and crossed his arms in a defensive stance. They could all tell he was not happy about Edward fighting. Fury answered a phone call and hung up quickly. He looked at Edward with a smile.

"Speak of the devil, this guy of yours was just spotted near the warehouses by the harbor."


	13. New Arrival

"You four, I want you to help the kid." Immediately, Edward started to protest but was cut off by the four of them agreeing and running out of the room. Fury seemed to notice his displeasure.

"Calm down kid, this is their job."

"What do you mean?"

"They help with any major crime that can put citizens at risk." As soon as Fury finishes his sentence, Clint came out in the outfit he had when Edward first met him. Steve came out in a red, white and blue uniform with a mask and shield? Edward felt his jaw drop to the floor when Tony came out in a full metal suit.

"Who are you guys?"

"We are the Avengers kid, we're superheroes." Edward didn't even have a chance to think before Tony started to fly. He came forward and wrapped his arms around Edward and went towards the window.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Edward screamed as the window started to get closer and tried to get out of his grip. He was just about to use alchemy to get out when the window opened and suddenly was over 100 feet in the air. Edward screamed louder and held onto Tony for dear life, making Tony chuckle.

"Calm down, I won't drop you." As soon as he finished his statement, they flew into a flock of birds that made Tony drop Edward. Edward screamed his lungs out as he felt himself falling through the air and the street below started to get closer. Edward felt Tony grab him and go back into the air again.

"Whoops, sorry about that." Edward punched him with his automail.

"THE FUCK YOU MEAN WHOOPS, I ALMOST DIED!!" He just laughed and set him down on the ground. Edward looked around and realized that they were already on the pier. He heard a motorcycle approaching and turned around to see Steve getting off along with Bruce. Not soon after, Clint came on his motorcycle and got off.

"Ok, here's the plan, the 3 of us will go in and look for Kimblee. Tony, you go to the right, I'll go to the left, and Clint will give us the bird's eye view and Edward will go down the middle.

"What about Bruce?"

"Bruce is more of a last resort." Edward looked at Bruce with a raised eyebrow and he just smiled.

"Ok then, let's go in." Edward quickly walked into the warehouse. The light from the moon didn't reach inside the warehouse and it was pitch black. Tony called out.

"Hello? Is anyone in here? Aw forget it, you know you're in here so just come out with your hands up and we won't have to kick your ass."

"Tony!" Steve couldn't further scold Tony before there was a snap in the dark warehouse and fire erupted from the dark corners. Edward used alchemy to protect himself from the flames while everyone else dodged it. ‘Is that who I think it is?’ Edward heard the sound of Clint letting go of an arrow and it hitting something metallic.

"Just surrender peacefully!" Edward looked at Steve after he yelled that. He was peeking out behind a pile of boxes. Again another snap and wave of flame rushed towards Steve, he barely managed to avoid it, again, the sound of an arrow hitting something metal again. Edward could practically hear Clint cussing.

"Mustang? Is that you?" He heard someone yell something in another language but Edward couldn't understand them. Edward looked down at the necklace that was around his neck. There's no way it won't let him speak other languages right? he took off the necklace and put into his pocket.

"COLONEL MUSTANG, IS THAT YOU?" There was a short silence until Edward heard a voice scream back.

"Fullmetal? Is that you?" Edward walked out from behind the wall and stared at the corner where the flames originated. Slowly, a figure came out of the darkness. There was Roy Mustang standing in his military uniform. With his hand at the ready. When he realized that it was really Edward, he put his hand down and started to smile.

"Fullmetal, happy to see that you didn't die after all." Edward walked forward and stopped in front of him. He stopped smiling when He realized something. If he was the one who was supposed to take care of Al, and he's here, who's taking care of him?

"What about Alphonse?"

"Hawkeye is taking care of him."

"How did you get here?"

"As soon as you left my office, I got assigned to another research team to activate a transmutation circle. Selim threw me in once I activated it. I should have noticed that he was there. “ He gritted his teeth in frustration and rubbed his head. He looked back at Edward.

"I figured that if you activated the exact same transmutation circle, we would end up in the same place. I landed in the middle of a field in the middle of the night. I figured if I started enough trouble, I would run into you eventually."

"That must of taken a while Colonel Useless since it's been raining for the last two days." He shot a glare at Edward and said through gritted teeth.

"For your information Fullmetal, I spent that time looking for a place to stay. And don't call me useless!" Edward smiled and leaned towards him in a mocking pose.

"I was only saying the truth Mustang, how Hawkeye can deal with you, I'll never know."

Mustang opened his mouth to rebuttal but a clearing of the throat cut them off and they looked where it came from. Steve, Clint and Tony were standing there with confused expressions on their faces. Tony had his face mask off and raised his eyebrow as if to question what they were doing.

"Who are they?"

"They're the people I've been staying with since I got here, the only thing they told me is that there was this guy causing explosions, I thought it was Kimblee so I brought them as back up. Mostly so they can see the difference between them and alchemists." Mustang looked at him and raised his eyebrow.

"Do they not have alchemy here?"

"No, from what I've found, their alchemy was just science mixed with religion, they stopped using it hundreds of years ago."

"What about their language and technology."

"They speak a different language, their technology is more advanced except for prosthetics." He had a surprised look on his face.

"How have you been communicating with them?"

"At first, they used a piece of technology, then they gave me this necklace that lets us talk to each other." He took the necklace out of his pocket and held it up for Mustang to see. He raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"You can talk to each other, using that necklace?"

"Don't ask me, it just works." Edward looked down at the necklace to observe it. He might as well split it into two so Mustang could use it as well. He used alchemy to split the necklace into two necklaces and handed one to him. He put it on and Edward put on his. He motioned for him to follow him and they walked over to Tony, Clint and Steve.

"Guys, this is my superior, Colonel Roy Mustang, it turns out he was also thrown into a portal and he ended up here." Mustang walked forward to shake their hands.

"Hello, I'm Colonel Roy Mustang, I appreciate the fact that you have been taking of Fullmetal." Tony was the first one to shake his hand then it was Clint, when it came to Steve, he just stared at him in disapproval. Mustang didn't change his smile and just put his hand down. Tony stole a glance at Steve and kept on talking.

"So are you a state alchemist too?" Mustang took out his pocket watch and showed them.

"Yup, I am the Flame Alchemist, Roy Mustang."


	14. Thoughts

The name clicked in Tonys head when the black haired man introduced himself to them. So this is Edward's superior, the Flame Alchemist. Tony looked at his hands and true to Edward's word, he was wearing gloves that had an alchemy circle printed on. He still wonders why Edward doesn't need a circle.

"I know you have explained this more than once but can you explain to me exactly why you need to use an alchemy circle but Edward doesn't." Mustang stopped at Tonys question and looked at Edward with a raised eyebrow and he just shrugged.

"In theory, when he claps his hands together, he's making a circle with his body. As for actual inscriptions that are needed, we have no idea how it works. As far as we know, there are only 3 people who are able to do it." Tony nodded his head in slight understanding.

‘I guess that helped me get the idea better. Keyword being I guess.’ Edward took the lead in walking out of the building and called out behind from him.

"Come on, let's get back to the tower, I want to compare my notes with the notes that Mustang has." Mustang caught up with him and took a notebook out of his pocket. They were too far away to hear but they could see that they were discussing theories or stuff like that. Tony followed after him and motioned for the others to do the same. When they were outside, they heard Mustang's voice.

"How did you get here if there are five of you and only two motorcycles?"

"Ah, well, let me tell you something, it wasn't fun." Mustang looked confused but Edward just simply got onto Steve's motorcycle and pointed at Tony.

"You're going with him, Mustang, I already learned from my mistake." Everyone quickly got onto the motorcycles and drove away, leaving only Tony and Mustang standing. He put his face plate back over his face and walked towards Mustang. Tony picked him up in a bridal carry and he made his protest very clear.

"What! Hey, put me down!" Tony quickly took off into the air before he tried to get out. Once he saw that they were in the air, he stopped struggling. They flew quietly for a couple of minutes before Tony started to talk.

"So tell me about Edward? I haven't known him for that long." He was silent for a little bit before he started to talk.

"Well despite the fact that he has that nasty temper of his, he's a good kid, very brave, he's done things that I wouldn't even consider doing."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, just the fact he has automail is a huge feat. Most adults don't even consider getting it."

"Why not, it's convenient and it's just as good as a regular arm?"

"You are not wrong buts it's the surgery that scares everyone."

"Why?"

"Automail is connected to your nerves, to make sure your nerves are connected, you have to be conscious." Tony felt his stomach sink when he realized what Mustang was saying.

"He was awake through the surgery?"

"Yes, he was barely 11 when he got them, he got his arm and leg done at the same time to boot. He may be temperamental and rude at times. However, he's one of the bravest and most stubborn people I know." Tony had a new respect for Edward. Getting that type of surgery at 11 years old, he didn’t think anyone would be willing to do it if they could have a simple prosthetic. Tony was silent for a little bit but continued talking.

"Sounds like you're quite fond of Edward." A small smile graced Mustang's lips at the mention of it.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that the kid grows on you after a couple of years. 3 years ago when he was just 12, he was already in the military as a state alchemist. I had to fight to get him assignments so he could prove himself. Just like I fought for him to get assignments, I also made sure that he didn't get any assignments that would stain his hands. He's like a son to me and he's too young to have another burden added onto him. I'm sure that Edward sees me as a father figure so I try my best to set a good example." A frown came over Tonys face as he said that. How did he know that he Edwards's father figure?

"What do you mean by that?"

"No, nothing, I was just thinking about a note his little brother gave to me before I went into the lab." Tony realized that they were already at the tower so he landed on the balcony and put him down. Tony motioned for him to follow him once I took off my suit. As they walked into the living room area, the other four walked in from the elevator. Tony walked towards the sofa and plopped down onto it.

"Ed, can you show Colonel Mustang to his room, it's going to be the one next to yours."

"Sure thing." Edward motioned Mustang over and they left in the elevator together. Everyone sat down on the sofa and Tony sat up. Now that they were gone, they could talk.

"What do you think about Colonel Mustang?" Steve was quiet for a little bit before he answered Bruce's question.

"Well I was talking to Edward before we got here, from what I heard, he seems to be a complete ignorant fool for letting him join the military. But yet, he seems to be a very intelligent man."

"You just contradicted yourself, explain what you mean."

"Well, he's the one who helped Edward join the military, even though he knows what being a state alchemist means. According to Edward, he was a state alchemist during a war, a war that he was forced to kill people. " Tony realized that what Steve heard seems to differ from what Mustang said. But then again, he thinks Steve already has a negative attitude about him since he let Edward join the military. Tony decided to leave it, so Steve wouldn't go on a rant. Before they could continue their conversation, Edward came out of the elevator and sat down on the sofa.

"Mustang is going to take a shower and then when he's done, he's going to help me research the transmutation circle that sent us here. Until then, can we get some grub around here?" They all looked at each other and then Bruce stood up.

"Yeah, what time is it? Let's make some food for all of us to eat. We can take some food down to your room if you like?"

"Sure, I'll be in my room researching then." Edward walked out and left in the elevator.

"Ok, now we can keep on talking about our situation." Bruce called out from the kitchen.

"I wasn't joking you know, come on, let's make something to eat."


	15. "Fight"

Edward waited in his room for Mustang to finish his shower. He continued to write everything down on spare sheets of paper. Edwards head shot up when he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Edward heard the door open behind him and looked up and saw Mustang walking with a towel around his neck, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. He came in with his notebook in his hand. He looked around the room, noticing all the notes and scraps of paper.

"You've been busy?"

"Yeah, I want to get home before the homunculus realize that the two of us are gone."

"Yeah, we better get to work before word gets around that we are missing." Mustang sat down next to Edward on a spare chair and shuffled uncomfortably. Edward looked over to him to see him pulling at his collar uncomfortably, Mustang raised an eyebrow as he noticed his stares.

"What? This shirt is too small and it's uncomfortable."

"Mustang, you're an alchemist." Edward suppressed a chuckle as he stared at Mustangs face. He had an embarrassed face of realization. He looked away to the side and mumbled’ that's right’.

"I'll never understand how Hawkeye deals with you." He looked at the teen with a blank face a little bit and then smirked. He rubbed Edwards head with his hand.

"You shouldn't be talking runt." Edward pushed his hand off his head and mockingly glared at him.

"Don't call me a runt."

"Whatever, I'll fix the shirt later, anyways, what do you have so far?" Edward took out his notebook and the latest transmutation circle that he drew and showed it to him.

"So far, I've written down everything I can remember about the circle. And because they have different alchemy here, I've written down everything that I can remember about it." He grabbed the notebook and opened it up. He looked closely at the small handwriting before looking back at Edward.

"These aren't coded right?"

"Nope, they're not my research notes so I don't have to put them into code."

"Good, this makes it much easier, here are my notes and everything I can remember about the transmutation circle." He took out his small notebook and unfolded a piece of paper, he handed it to Edward and they compared their circles. They were definitely really similar and were almost the exact same. His had a little more detail in certain areas and Edward had a little more detail in other certain areas. they had the same geometric array, for the most part, give or take a few lines.

"Looks like we have the same idea for the circle, we have a few differences but they are pretty much the same."

"Yeah, but why do you have these runes right here?" Mustang pointed at some words.

"These are the words that allow all types of material to be broken down, if you want a better explanation, just look through my notes." Mustang held up Edwards notebook and raised an eyebrow at him.

"You mean this notebook, it's going to take me a while before I'm going to be able to find it."

"Oh yeah, well should you have learned this when you were starting out alchemy?" Edward saw his vein pop out in slight anger.

"That was over 20 years ago Fullmetal, just explain it to me."

"You started learning alchemy at 40?" Edward smirked as Mustang picked up his insult and his vein popped out even more. He raised his now gloved hand in a threatening manner.

"I should report you for misconduct Fullmetal." Edward smiled and used alchemy to buckle down Mustang to the desk.

"You forget one thing Mustang, we're not in our world at the moment." He stood up and ran out the door, hearing an explosion from the room when the elevator door opened. Edward ran into the elevator and pressed the button to close the door.

He looked up and saw Mustang running towards the elevator, but he wasn't going to make it in time.

"Meet me on the 6th floor!" The doors closed right in his face and he felt the elevator going down. As soon as it stopped and the doors opened, the blonde ran into the training room, grateful that Bruce told him that it was under him when he showed Edward his room.

Edward turned around in time to see Mustang running in from the stairs. He got into a fighting stance with his hand at the ready, Edward doing the same.

"Do you really want to fight me Fullmetal?"

"Try me Mustang, I haven't had a good fight since I've gotten here."

"Fortunately for you, I haven't either." A ball of flame exploded near Edward as he put up a wall to separate his body from it. Edward heard the sound of running feet and looked to see Mustang getting closer.

"I got you now!" He used alchemy and created a cage around Mustang that trapped him within, Edward created more walls in front of him, knowing all too well that it wouldn't hold him for long. He used that small time frame to create a spear to arm himself.

The walls protected the younger alchemist from the explosion that Mustang caused and filled the room with smoke. Edward created a mound with the same shape as him and put his red jacket on it. The red would stand out in the grey smoke anyway. Edward ran out from behind the wall to the right of Mustang.

"Ha-ha, found you!" Edward braced himself as he heard a snap, and felt the heat behind, right where he was seconds ago. Edward was going to take his chance and make his presence known to Mustang.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" Edward froze in his tracks and stopped moving when he heard Steve's voice carry over the air. With the startup of whirring, the smoke started to dissipate inside the room and it started to become easier to see. Edward looked in front of him and started to sweat nervously.

Turns out Edward wasn't as silent as he thought as Mustang had his fingers in the snapping position right in front of the teens face and the tip of the spear was at the base of Mustangs throat. Edward looked back at the now visible door to see the horrified faces of all four of them. Steve walked forward cautiously as if he was trying to calm a cornered animal.

"I don't know what happened, but you guys need to calm down and lower your weapons. Don't do something you are going to regret." The two alchemists exchanged surprised looks and started laughing as they relaxed and stood next to each other. Edward looked at them with a smile.

"We weren't fighting, we were training."

"Yeah, if we were fighting for real, the both of us would need to go to the hospital." Tony spoke up with an amazed tone of voice

"You mean you guys were just training?"

"Yes, you should have seen the time me and Fullmetal fought in front of the entire military branch to prove who was stronger." Clint spoke up from the back.

"So who was stronger?" Edward gave a sheepish smile while rubbing the back of his head.

"We couldn't finish the fight, we destroyed the battlefield too much to keep on fighting on it."

"Yeah, then after that, our superior made us clean it up without using alchemy, that took way too long." Mustang had an exasperated face and the pile of rocks behind him caught Edwards attention. He looked around the room and realized that they had almost completely destroyed the room, they somehow didn't touch the weights that were in the corner, but they had turned the formerly glossy floor into rubble and left cracks all over the place. Mustang noticed Edwards stare and looked around the room as well.

"Oh, that's why you thought we were fighting...Fullmetal, can you do the honors?" Edward looked at Mustang with an exasperated look.

"Come on, I know your specialty is flame alchemy, but you should be able to fix this right?"

"Last time I checked, you need a flat surface to draw a transmutation circle on, and there is none of that." Edward sighed in frustration as he realized that Mustang was right. Edward clapped hands together and used alchemy to fix the room. The floor was no longer cracked and was now in one piece. Edward stood back up and looked at Mustang.

"Now that we got that out of our system, what do you say we go back to work?"

"Sounds like a plan." Edward nodded his head and walked out of the room once the four of them moved out of the way. He led Mustang back to his room and sat down the desk chair. Crackling his knuckles, Edward picked up his pen. 

"Let's get started."


	16. Recordings

They all stared at the two of them as they walked out of the room and into the elevator. Tony looked back into the room, amazed that Edward was able to fix something that would take construction crews weeks in two seconds.

"If that was their training, I don't want to see them in a serious fight together." They all agreed with Clint as the elevator stopped on the floor above.

"I think we underestimated Edward since he's younger but he can easily take one of us on." Tony looked at Steve who seemed to be surprised at the strength of Edward.

"Of course he's strong, he's part of the military, he needs to be able to defend himself in hand to hand combat." Steve nodded in understanding as they walked into the elevator and headed for the 8th floor to continue eating. As soon as they got there, Bruce put some food into two small containers and grabbed some forks and napkins.

"Why are you doing that?" Bruce looked at Tony and held up the food.

"Remember I told Edward I was going to take them food, this is it, I'm going to go ahead and take it down."

"I'll go with you." Tony grabbed one of the containers from Bruce's hands and headed towards the elevator. Bruce walked right behind him and pressed the button for the 7th floor when they walked into the elevator.

"So how do you think they are going to stay here?"

"They are both extremely smart in terms of chemistry and understanding the reactions. But it seems as if alchemy is a very fragile and powerful force that must be precise. I think it's going to take them a lot of trial and error before they'll be able to get it." Tony nodded his head in understanding as all the points he brought up were true. They walked out of the elevator and knocked on Edward’s door. After about 30 seconds, Tony knocked on the door again after no one came out.

The two of them looked at each other nervously.

"You don't think they're training again?" Tony was cut off by the door being opened by Colonel Mustang. He raised his eyebrow at the sight of two of them and the containers.

"Yes?"

"Here’s some food, make sure Edward eats, last time he didn't eat for about 3 days." He had a face of understanding and glanced back at Edward, who was too absorbed in his work to notice the guests.

"Yeah once he gets into his research, it's hard to get him out of it, I'll make sure he eats, thanks for the food." He took the containers and closed the door. They walked back to the elevator and headed back to the floor above when they walked in, Tony realized that he forgot to do something.

"Jarvis, can you tell us when Colonel Mustang and Edward have gone without eating or sleeping for long periods?"

_"Certainly sir."_

"Thanks. Now this time, we won't have to drug Edward just to get him to sleep." Everyone nodded in agreement as Tony pulled up the video recording from the training room. He displayed it for everyone to see.

The training room was empty for a minute then they could see Edward running into the room with Mustang coming him right behind him 30 seconds later. Edward got into a fighting stance when Mustang came into the room and he mirrored his actions. They seemed to talk for a small bit and then Mustang lunged forward and snapped his fingers.

They were shocked when they saw a giant ball of flame exploded in front of Edward. they knew that he could use powerful alchemy but this is ridiculous.

Edward dodged it and created a cage around him, similar to when he did to them but then he immediately put up a wall in front of him. He had good reason to as Mustang blew up the cage he was in. Smoke filled the room and blocked the camera's view.

After about two minutes of just seeing smoke, they could see the smoke start to clear and were able to see the frozen figures of Edward and Mustang as they stared at the quartet in the doorway. Tony paused the video and looked at the others.

"What do you think?" Steve had his hand on his chin in a thinking manner.

"The two of them are definitely powerful by themselves, they could be helpful in any fights we could have. I don't want Edward to join shield but do we really have a choice?"

"You know how Fury is, he's not going to take no for an answer, especially since Clint here has already sent him the footage." They all looked at Clint who simply shrugged his shoulders.

"What, it's my job." Rolling my eyes, Tony looked back at the footage, he unpaused it and after about 30 seconds, he was able to see the moment when Edward fixed the floor, it still amazed him just how powerful their alchemy was.

"What are the chances they would be willing to teach us alchemy?" They looked surprised at Tony’s question, Bruce was the first one to speak up.

"It's very unlikely that they would teach us, Edward told me when we were talking that alchemy takes a long time just to learn the basics. He says that back home, you have to be lucky enough to find a teacher that is willing to teach you."

"Why is it so hard to learn alchemy?"

"Well for one, from what Edward told me, alchemists are very secretive in their research, any alchemist with common sense puts all of their research into code. Because of this, it's difficult to find a teacher who is willing to teach their secrets. So do you guys really think they would be willing to teach us, people, they barely know?" They all nodded in understanding and sighed in defeat. Tony stood up and stretched.

"Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to the lab to work, see you later." Tony walked to the elevator and went up to his lab that was on the 5th floor. As soon as he walked in, he sat down and started to get to work on his next project.


	17. Attempt

"I think this line is wrong here Mustang, it has to be a little bit more to the right."

"Yeah you're right, I think some of these inscriptions are in the wrong order, see you switched around these two words."

"Oh yeah, you're right." Mustang got onto his knees and switched the words around while Edward fixed the line. He stood up and wiped the sweat from his face and looked at the array. Everything seemed to be correct. Mustang looked up at Edward who was standing on the other side of the circle and nodded. It looks like everything is going to go well. Mustang walked over to Edward and stood beside him as they both looked at the giant array.

"What are the chances of this killing us?"

"Killing us, almost none, but as for severely maiming us or leaving us crippled for life, we would have a better chance trying to touch Major General Armstrong." Mustang held back a shudder at the thought of her.

"I would rather live with her brother than deal with her."

"Should we tell the others?"

"No, we should just see if the circle works, we can deactivate it and then get ready to leave."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Come on let's get started." Edward nodded his head in response and walked on over to the other side of the circle and stood across from him. Mustang kneeled down and put his hands on the circle, he heard a clap and a ringing sound. Mustang looked up to see Edward with his hand hovering above the floor.

Their eyes met and they both nodded in assurance, Mustang looked back down and noticed that an inscription looked wrong. He looked at the inscription and with horror, he realized that it was written wrong.

"Edward wait!" Blue lightning came from the circle as Mustang voiced his warning. Edward looked at Mustang with a face of horror as the blue lightning changed colors to a menacing red. They stood up to run away, but before they could even turn to take a step, an explosion rattled their body’s as it threw them backward.

Mustang felt his body slam against the wall as his head hit the wall behind. Mustang felt his body fall onto the ground as a ringing noise filled his ears. He opened his eyes to see a red-tinted room. The room was completely destroyed with the lights hanging from the ceiling. Mustang looked at the other side of the room and saw a limp figure with a red coat.

He stumbled to his feet and slowly made his way to Edward. He walked around the rubble of the circle and kneeled down next to the teen.

"Fullmetal." Mustang shook his shoulder and he didn't stir. Mustang pulled him over onto his back to see that he was unconscious. He was bleeding heavily from his head and had blood dripping out of his mouth. Edward coughed gently as he breathed in the settling dust. His eyes cracked open for a second before his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Mustang shook his shoulder again, trying to wake him up again, he didn't wake up.

"Edward, come on wake up." He still didn't wake up. Mustang stood up and felt himself sway slightly, he looked around the room and saw the door. He bent down and gently picked up Edward in a bridal carry. Mustang felt his back strain for the extra weight, his automail wasn't helping either. Mustang leaned his head against his chest as he carried edward down the hall to the elevator. He was starting to get light headed from carrying Edward but he still continued on.

As Mustang waited for the elevator, he leaned against the wall. As soon as the door opened, he walked and pressed the button for the 7th floor. Mustang almost collapsed when the elevator move but he managed to stay standing.

As soon as the door opened, he walked out of it into the living room. Steve was already there along with the others, they noticed him immediately. He tried to walk forward but tripped. He closed his eyes as he waited for the impact with the floor. He felt hands wrap around his waist as he felt Edward leave his arms. He opened his eyes and saw Edward in Steve’s arms and saw that Clint and Tony were holding him up. Bruce and Steve left the room with Edward.

"Where are they taking him?"

"Calm down, they're taking him to the medical room, what happened?"

"We were just activating the circle we made," Mustang interrupted himself as he coughed hard, he felt the taste of blood filled his mouth but continued," I noticed that an inscription was written wrong, I tried to warn Edward but it was too late, he had already activated it."

"Ok, come on, big guy, let's take you to the medical room." He nodded his head as he felt his consciousness drifting away.

* * *

He opened his eyes to a dimmed room, he slowly sat up with his sore body. He was lying in a hospital bed and had needles in his arm. He looked around and saw Edward laying in a bed about five feet away to the left. He was sleeping peacefully with a bandage around his head. He breathed a sigh of relief and winced at the pain in his ribs. He gingerly touched his ribs and realized that he broke a couple ribs. He slowly got out of bed and shuffled over to Edward. He pulled a chair up and sat down beside his bed. As soon as Mustang sat down, he started to stir.

"Edward?" He opened his eyes groggily and looked at him.

"Dad? What happened?" It surprised Mustang when he was called dad, but he still answered his question.

"Just some problems with the circle, just go to sleep and rest for now." He nodded his head and groggily mumbled.

"Ok, goodnight dad." Edward fell asleep again and laid there peacefully as he held a smile on his face. Nothing overjoyed him like this. He heard a door open behind him and turned around to see that Bruce was coming in. He saw Mustang and smiled, he spoke in a whisper when he noticed that Edward was still asleep.

"Well someone looks happy despite the fact that they have 2 broken ribs and a concussion.” Mustang just smiled

"Oh it’s nothing, I'm just happy to see that he's ok, especially after that rough rebound." He nodded his head and looked back at the chart he had in his hands.

"Well anyway, he's not going to wake up for a while, we gave him some painkillers and some sleeping aids, you can go ahead and go back to sleep if you want, you've only been out for about 4 hours and it's close to midnight anyway." He nodded his head in understanding

"Ok, I'll go to sleep in a little bit." Bruce walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. He looked back to Edward and his sleeping face. He’ll go to sleep once he gets tired of sitting here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ima try to change the rest of the chapters and their POV today


	18. Sleep

He opened his eyes to a white ceiling in a dim room. He realized that he was lying in a hospital bed, just like he did when he first got there.

Before he sat up, he did a mental check for his body. From what he could tell, he has a broken rib and a concussion. He sat up with his painfully sore body and looked around.

He looked to the left to see that the clock said that it was about 4 in the morning. He looked to the right and was surprised at who was there.

Mustang was there sleeping in a chair next to the bed. He was sleeping with his arms crossed and his head slumped against his chest. He softly snored as he sat there.

Immediately, memories of him calling him dad rushed back to him as he felt his face flushing.

He started to internally panic, how was he going to play this off? He guess he can say that he doesn’t remember it, no that's dumb, he can always tell when he’s lying. He huffed in frustration as he realized that he just going to have to confront Mustang about it.

He looked around the room and the pure white unnerved him. It reminded him of the truth gate. He held back a shiver. He looked at his right hand and was relieved to see that it was fine mostly. The outer cover was a mess, but thankfully, none of the internal wirings was cut. Focusing on the white room again, it unnerved him further. He shuffled down the bed to lay at the bottom so he could be closer to Mustang. As much as he doesn’t like him, his presence gave him comfort. He curled into a ball and quickly fell back asleep.

* * *

"-rd., Edward, it’s time to wake up." He groggily opened his eyes and saw Bruce and Tony standing over the bed. He turned onto his side to face the wall but quickly sat up as he felt his ribs protest in pain.

"How do you feel?"

"Like shit." Tony and Bruce chuckled at his choice of words before moving on.

"Well, we came to check up on you, well Tony is here to make sure that your automail is ok, but how are you doing?" He grimaced at the mention of his automail. He looked at it again, at the destroyed outer cover and the exposed wiring, he lifted it up to show Tony and Bruce, their eyes widened at the condition of the automail.

"Are you still able to move it?" He tried moving his fingers again at the suggestion of Tony, thankfully, the fingers curled into a fist smoothly. There seems to be nothing wrong with it.

"Yeah, the outer cover seems to be messed up, I don't think any of the internal wirings got nicked or anything, so I should be able to fix this myself."

"What would you do if the internal wiring was messed up, would you let Tony try to fix your arm?" He looked at Tony who seemed to be excited by the suggestion. If he managed to fix it, it would be great, but he had a feeling he would take it apart completely to "figure out" how it works and then fix it.

"Honestly, no, my automail is really sensitive and my mechanic is the only one who can fix it in a couple of hours since she built it, Tony would have to take it apart completely just to figure out how it works. Just taking out a screw can make it impossible to move it, so yeah, sorry about that." Tony looked a little bit disheartened at his decision but looks like he understood his reasoning.

"Ok, then can you tell us what happened?"

"Well, something was obviously wrong with the circle, but at the moment, I have no idea." He looked around the room, looking for Mustang.

"Where's Mustang?"

"He's already up and about, I think right now, he's making some breakfast for himself.'' He nodded his head in understanding and started to get out of bed. Which greatly flustered Bruce as he tried to stop Edward from getting out.

“What are you doing? You still need to rest!" He got out and put on the slippers, ignoring the pain in his ribs.

"I'll be fine, I've been through worse." Bruce and Tony exchanged looks before looking at him with slight concern. He shrugged off their looks and opened the door to the hallway before walking to the living room and plopping himself down onto the couch. He yawned one more time before rubbing his eyes, maybe he should have stayed in bed like they said and slept some more. He came back to reality when he heard a plate being set down on the table in front of him. He was surprised to see that Mustang was setting down a plate of eggs with bacon and cheese with a fork in front of him. Edward looked at him with a surprised look and he just merely shrugged his shoulders before sitting across from me with his own plate of breakfast. I scooted forward on the couch before picking up the plate and trying a piece of the food. It was surprisingly good.

"What Fullmetal? Surprised I can cook?" He looked up at Mustang who had a smug grin on his face. Edward smiled and put an equally smug look on his own face.

"No, I'm just wondering how you were able to get a girlfriend long enough for her to teach you how to cook. That must have been your longest relationship." His smug smile turned into one of slight frustration and annoyance. One of his eyebrows cocked up as a vein became visible.

"I'm sure you'll get a girlfriend yourself one day. That is, if you ever get taller." Edward smiled in annoyance before he decided to keep his mouth shut and occupy it with food instead. He finished the plate in record time and set back down onto the table before sitting back and yawning.

"Was it good?" He closed his eyes in sudden exhaustion.

"Eh, it was alright." He mumbled the last part before he let the entrails of sleep wrapping around him pull him into the darkness.


	19. Small Problem

Tony and Bruce walked into the room and noticed Edward sleeping on the couch. They looked at him, then at Mustang, then again at Edward. Tony pointed at Edward.

"Why is he asleep, he woke up less than 10 minutes ago?" Mustang smiled before putting down his own plate and standing up, resting his hand on his hip.

"I put some sleeping medicine in with the eggs. Knowing him, he would have gone and inspected the circle instead of resting. Just don't tell him I did that." They stared at him in amazement and curiosity.

"You really know him, don't you?" Mustang scoffed at this and smiled after.

"Of course, I do, I make it a point for me to get to know my subordinates. Now," They looked at him as he pointed his thumb towards the sleeping Edward. “Who’s going to take him back to his bed?" They looked at Mustang expectantly, he put his hands up in defense.

"Don't look at me, I'm injured." They nodded their heads in understanding before looking at each other. Bruce put his hands up in defense.

"Hey, don't look at me, I'm only strong when the other guy comes out. Besides, you should be able to pick him up.” Mustang looked at Tony as did Bruce. He looked at both of them before groaning and rubbing his hand across his face.

"Fine, I'll do it, but just saying, I'm not strong enough to pick him up if he has his automail on." He shook his head at that and cringed at the pain that it caused. But he somewhat ignored it as he couldn’t let them take off Edwards automail.

"You can't take them off, not only do you not know how to fix them if they break, it causes too much pain for him for you to be taking off and putting back on his limbs." Bruce looked at Mustang curiously.

"Just how much pain does it cause?" He tried to remember the description Major Armstrong gave Mustang when he took the Elrics back to their hometown to get his automail repaired.

"I have never seen it in person, but one of my subordinates gave me their interpretation. If I remember, Edward has a very high tolerance for pain, very high. When he lost his leg, he was still able to save his little brother and he was only 11 at the time. I'm sure now he can tolerate more pain but even then, it took Edward about 15 minutes for him to get used to the pain and let it pass. So, I would have to assume that if we were going to take them off, he wouldn't be too happy about it." They both nodded and seemed to understand his reasoning before they looked at the sleeping figure of Edward.

"So... if none of us are strong enough to pick him up, who's going to do it?" Mustang looked at Tony and his blank face, he was trying to think about how they could move him before waking him up when he remembered the blond guy, Steve was his name.

"What about Steve, he looks strong enough to pick him?"

"Oh yeah, he is strong enough, I think he's almost done with his training as well. He should be coming in any minute." He sighed, looks like Edward won't be able to sleep in a bed for a while.

"Do you at least have blankets, I don't want him catching a cold again." Bruce nodded his head and left to go get a blanket. He sat down on the armrest of the sofa Edward was sleeping on. Tony did the same on the opposite sofa and smiled at him.

"You really do care about him don't you?" Mustang smiled at that and looked at Edward who was sleeping without a care in the world.

"He's brash and blunt and hates to be called short. I have never seen a young man with so much determination. But under all that, he's very kind and caring, you can see it with the way he treats his brother and other people he cares about. He has matured a little bit more when he was 12, but he's pretty much the same person." They sat in silence as they waited for either Bruce or Steve to return.

"Just a question, why did he join the military?" He kept his face impassive as he panicked for a second, trying to remember their cover story.

"Edward had just lost his limbs and his brother was severely injured but hanging on. He got the automail surgery and managed to recover and gain full mobility of them within a year. He needed a way to pay off the surgery and pay for his brother's hospital bills. So, he studied and joined the military as a state alchemist. Making history as the youngest state alchemist." Tony looked somber at the thought of a child joining the military because of debt. But accepted it for what it was, it wasn't like they could change it now.

"And his brother, was he able to get better?" He smiled at this. But on the inside, he felt guilty because it was yet another lie Mustang was telling the man

"He made a full recovery, Edward is still paying off the debts from his automail since he has a habit of breaking them all the time but he's doing a lot better compared to when he was 12."

"At least it was worth it, do you think he will stay in the military after he pays off the debt." This actually made Mustang think, will he stay?

"As much as I would love to say yes, I don't know, I'm sure he's going to live a normal life." They sat in silence before Tony broke the silence again.

"What is taking Bruce so long?" His comment made him realize that Bruce was taking a long time just to grab a blanket. They turned as they heard the elevator open to see Steve and Bruce together, Bruce with a blanket in his arms.

"Hey sorry I took a while, but I ran into Steve and here we are." He took a look at Steve and noticed that his hair was wet, from sweat or a shower he doesn’t know but now that he's here, he can take Edward to his room.

"I heard about your predicament, I’ll go ahead and take him to his room." Steve took the blanket from Bruce's hands and covered Edward with it before gently picking him up from the sofa. It made Mustang smile to see the big bury man being so gentle with him, it was sweet but it was kinda funny.

"I'll never get over how heavy he is, he looks much lighter than this." Mustang followed him into the elevator and they stood in silence as he helped him with pressing the buttons and opening doors. Soon, they made it to his room and Mustang opened the door, letting Steve go in first. Mustang stood by the door as he set down Edward, pulled the blanket over him and walked out.

"Thanks for that, I re-"

"I didn't do it for you, I only did it for him, for the poor kid who you let join the military." Mustang stood there, shocked at what he just told the alchemist. He was going to say that Edward joined of his own decision, but he walked away before he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just gonna say before hand that after a year of not writing for this particular story, my writing style has changed a lot and you will see that after ~ chapter 21


	20. Argument

He walked into the room and cringed at the chaos. The lights were hanging from the ceiling, the floor was cracked, there was fine dust covering almost every surface. At least they were smart enough to use a small empty room. Ignoring the protest in his ribs, he bent down and restored the room to its former glory, taking care to not activate the circle again, he left the circle incomplete as a precaution.

Once restored, he walked around the edges of the circle, trying to find what went wrong. He narrowed his eyes when he saw a rune phrase that was in the wrong order. Taking chalk out of his pocket, he immediately fixed it to prevent anything else going wrong.

Standing back up, he sighed in defeat while looking at the circle. Back to the drawing board. He was really looking forward to seeing everyone again. He looked at the door way once he heard it open. he wasn’t surprised to see Mustang walking into the room.

"I had a feeling you would be in here." He had a grim and disappointed look on his face, he was just as disheartened as Edward. He averted his eyes and gave a small smile at his prediction.

"Yeah... I wanted to see what went wrong, I already fixed the runes." Edwards tone of voice didn’t go unnoticed. He was just as disappointed as Mustang was. Who wouldn’t be disappointed, their chance of going home had just evaporated for the time being.

"We'll figure it out eventually Edward, we can always try again." His voice was soft as he tried to comfort the teen. He sighed at his comment. He wasn’t wrong, but the problem that they are still there and not with everyone else. They are there, while everyone else back home has to deal with father and his entourage.

"I know, I just wanna hurry up and get back before the homunculus try anything." Edward stared down at the floor with his fists clenched tightly in frustration. He heard Mustang walk over and place a hand on his shoulder.

"I know, come on, let's get something to eat and then we can start researching again. We'll figure something out." Nodding his head in agreement, he tried to relax and stuck his hands into his pockets before walking out of the room with Mustang on his tail. They stood in the elevator in silence as it took them up to the common area. It was a comfortable silence that one only gets with a long-lasting relationship. Either one of them didn’t mind just being around each other in the silent, although Mustang quickly broke it when he informed Edward on where his stuff is.

"Bruce mentioned to me that some of your belongings are still in the medical room, go ahead and pick them up while I find us something to eat."

"Got it." They went their separate ways as the door opened. He walked into the medical room and spotted his watch and jacket on the table next to the bed. He grabbed it and walked out, heading towards the kitchen. He slowed his pace as he heard arguing out in the kitchen area. Standing around the corner, he listened to the argument as it played out.

"Why do you despise me Mr. Rogers?"

"Why did you let him join the military?!" Edward frowned at the second voice, was that Steve? Why was he arguing with Mustang? He frowned as he heard that Steve was practically growling at Mustang.

"I don’t know what you've heard, but he joined of his own accord. He made his own choice."

"You shouldn’t have let him join! He is a child!" He could practically hear Steve gritting his teeth at Mustang. Mustang’s voice was impassive but had a slight undertone of anger at the display of anger towards him. He heard a loud, annoyed sigh before Mustang said something.

"Fullmetal wanted to join, there was nothing stopping him from joining, who am I to stop him?"

"Don’t call him that, he has a name, call him by it." Steve was furious at Mustang for letting him join the military. Whereas most people would have been touched, Edward was furious. He is still treating Edward like a stupid, immature child.

"He made his own choice, you have to respect it."

"He’s only a child." He swore heard Mustangs last nerve snap.

“You don’t think I know that!? I have fought for that boy time and time again to make sure that he didn’t join the military for nothing! To make sure that our country didn’t try to use him as a weapon like they did to me. He became an adult when he was 12, he’s already 15 so quit your shit and just accept the fact.” Edward heard the characteristic footsteps of Mustangs boot stomping over to where he was currently hiding behind the corner. He was walking too fast for him to be able to move away from the corner or make it look like he had just gotten his stuff. Instead, he turned the corner to look at Edward, his arms full of his stuff and his mouth open in surprise. He nearly rammed into Edward, but when he realized that it was the teenager that was standing there, anyone could tell that Edward had overheard the last part of their argument. His face turned a light pink while his ears turned into a bright red, efficiently showing his embarrassment.

“Oh, Fullmetal, come on, let’s go and research some more, we need to get home.” He quickly walked past Edward and disappeared into the elevator long before he could. Edward turned his body as Mustang walked away to watch him and turned back around once he heard Steve’s footsteps behind him. Edward looked at him and he seemed to be giving him an apologetic stare. He was going to say something, but Edward ignored him and ran over to join Mustang before the doors closed. He barely managed to make it in before the doors closed completely. Both stood there in silence, but it wasn’t the comfortable silence that they had a few minutes ago, it was a tense silence that remained as they thought out the argument that just ended. Did he really do everything that he said he did? Edward had always wondered why he had never been assigned any body guard missions or diplomatic ones where most state alchemist get at least three a year.

“Mustang.”

“…What?”

“…Thanks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> llCookieQueenll nah i think you're dreaming


	21. The Portal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY DONE CHANGING THE DAMN POV
> 
> anyways, now that im done, my writing style is gonna change from here, enjoy.

“Mustang.” Fuck, there is no way in hell that Ed didn’t hear the last part of that argument. He discreetly looked at him and noticed that he was looking to the wall that was to the left of him, the tops of his ears were slightly red.

“…What?” He shifted on his feet as if he was nervous. He refused to look at the man and was still staring at the wall. Mustang blinked in surprise at his sudden change in demeanor, he couldn’t remember the last time he was acting like this.

“…Thanks.” It took him a little bit to realize that he had actually thanked him. He couldn’t remember the last time that it happened. By the time he did realize, the elevator had already stopped on their floor and he had already walked out like he had a mission. His head was back up, staring straight ahead, his shoulders were squared up again, and he was back to his normal self.

“Come on, let’s go and start trying to get home again.” Mustang blinked in surprise as he quickly walked out. It took a couple of seconds to realize that he had thanked him and that he was going to be left in the elevator if he didn’t leave. Following Edward, Mustang realized that he was walking with a purpose and was determined to get to his room before he do. Mustang smiled to himself as he saw this. He’ll leave him alone this time, just this one time though.

* * *

They both trudged into the living room, the sun coming through the uncovered windows, the first light they’ve seen in days. Ok maybe that’s an exaggeration but they have been holed up in Edwards’s room trying to figure out everything. Roger's and Tony both looked at them with curious looks as Edward fell onto the sofa with a sigh while Mustang grabbed an apple before sitting down tiredly next to Edward.

"Soooo, any progress?" Mustang stared at wall in front of him tiredly while Edward picked up his head to answer his question.

"We found out that the missing part of the transmutation circle is based off the air and shit." He bit into the apple and relished in the crisp and sweet flavor it had.

"So?"

"So it means that unless either one of us suddenly have an epiphany that challenges our world’s research on air or TIME, we're stuck here." Edward sighed tiredly and rubbed his eyes at Mustangs answer. It has been a rough couple of days where we have only been researching based off their knowledge, well mostly Edward's knowledge. Of course, they have made little to no progress because of that fact. Although Mustang did have to admit that they were both able to work together without any major problems.

"Is there anything we can do?" Mustang noticed that Roger's still refused to acknowledge his existence, but has slightly warmed up to him, which means that no longer frowns at Mustang every chance he gets but instead just stares at him.

"Unless you somehow get an alchemy book from our world into this godforsaken world, no." They sat in silence as they brooded on their respective thoughts. Mustang was throwing away the apple core when Edward sat up straight and rigid. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration as he tried to figure out whatever he was thinking of. The others started to notice Edwards’s odd behavior.

“Kid?” Edward let his eyes flicker over to Tony one more time before he had a look of sudden realization. Mustang felt his body relax slightly as he realized that whatever he realized, it was not going to be that big of a problem.

“Great, I’m going to be right back.” The three of them exchanged glances before voicing their questions.

“Where are you going?” Edward gave a glance at Rogers before turning back to Mustang, his voice low and serious.

“I’ll be back in a little bit, Truth wants to see me.”

“Truth?” Edward didn’t even have a chance to answer him before the atmosphere in the room changed dramatically. The lights cut out, bathing everyone in darkness. Startled, Tony started to yell out to the A. I trying to figure out what happened. It didn’t take long for a purple light to fill the air. The two men loud out a cry of alarm at the sight of a giant eye appearing under Edward. Mustang felt his eyes widen in surprise as he realized what was going on. Edward and his brother had told him how truth looks like and also what the circle looks like. But he still wasn’t expecting to see Edward quickly get pulled in by the arm like tentacles. Although he knew that Edward would be this calm for a reason, it was hard to watch his youngest subordinate sink into the floor. Tony and Steve were getting ready to jump in and pull him out.

“Wait! Don’t!” Mustang stood in front of them as he tried to stop them from entering the circle. The last thing Edward needs is another person to fuck up the transmutation. The both of them look at Mustang with shocked looks, you would think that he grew an extra head that spitted out fire by the looks they were giving him.

“Are you fucking crazy?” The two men shouted in tandem. he had to appreciate the fact that it was one of the few times the men had agreed on something since he was introduced to him but he pushed that thought aside. He looked over his shoulder to see Edward almost completely gone, the only thing that was sticking out now was his extremely annoyed and exasperated face.

“He’ll be fine, he knows what he’s doing.” At this point, the two men were already done with Mustang’s attempts to keep them out of the situation. Roger especially, letting out a sound of indignation (it was a very manly squeak) as Rogers picked Mustang up. Like physically picked him up and moved him to the side that was out of his way. The two men trudged forward to go and help Edward. Only to stop short, as soon as they were even close enough to help, everything went back to normal, and Edward was gone.


	22. News

Edward sat up with a gasp as he woke up and realized where he was. Of course, he wasn’t exactly happy to see that he was surrounded by nothing but white with his door right in front of him.

“Ah, young alchemist, so nice of you to drop in.” Truths ethereal voice filled the air. It echoed around the seemingly endless room. Edward whipped around to look at the faceless, short, white figure that was standing on the other side of the room. Edward scrambled to his feet as he realized that Alphonses door was gone. It was completely gone, it wasn’t there like it was supposed to be. He felt his stomach drop as he realized that this meant that the two of them weren’t connected any more. As he realized that his body wouldn’t be able to give Alphonses body the nutrients it needs.

“Where’s Alphonses door!? What did you do to him!” Truth looked behind him like nothing was supposed to be there. It was so causal, it pissed off Edward. Edward clenched his jaw, it would do nothing to get mad at truth now, especially since he has no idea what he’s doing there. Truth turned back with a wide smile on his face.

“that’s what I wanted to talk to you about young alchemist. You see, you are not supposed to be in this world.” Truth let his last words linger in the air before continuing, the grin on his face slowly falling off as he continued.

“And without my help, you won’t be able to get back. Since that’s quite problematic, I decided to make a deal with you.” Edward felt his stomach drop at the word deal. The last time he made a deal, he lost his arm and leg along with his brothers’ body. He stayed silent as he reconsidered truths words. He hated the fact that truth was absolutely right, unless they got that last part of information, they would never get back home.

“And what if I don’t? what will happen then.” Truth smile that disturbing grin and then put his hands up in a careless motion.

“Then your precious little brother dies. You have already been in this world for two weeks; your brothers’ body will only survive another two weeks before it withers away. I suggest you to agree young alchemist.” Edward sighed angrily as he realized that he was going to have to agree if he wanted to save his brother.

“fine, what are you going to take?” Somehow his grin got even wider before he answered.

“Oh, I won’t be taking much, you are the one doing me a favor. It would be much more entertaining to watch you and Roy Mustang struggle,” he snapped his fingers before he could respond. With horror, Edward felt the arms drag him back into the gate, before he could get answers on what Truth was going to take.

“I’ll see you soon young alchemist.”

Fucking bastard.

* * *

“Edward, ed get up!” Edward opened his eyes to see three faces hovering above him. He shot up with a gasp and sat there for a couple of seconds as he tried to reorientate himself.

“Hey, calm down, you’re still here in the tower.” Edward looked around warily before his eyes landing on Mustang. Edward causally brought attention to his hands before running his hand through his hair. His hand shaped in the military sign for a secret meet up as he did so. Mustang of course noticed the subtle sign but before he could find out a way to make it happen. Edward started to lose. His. Shit.

“WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO MY HAIR!?!” Edward used both hands to feel head and was appealed to realize that his hair was cut short in the back. Very short, the best way he could describe it, was a woman’s A line cut, with his bangs the longest part of it. Except the entire cut was very jagged and basically fucked up. Tony and Steve, although they were worried and wanted to know why Edward disappeared for a couple of minutes and came back with short hair, found his reaction to be a little bit funny. Mustang stared at Edwards hair and realized that if he didn’t want to look extremely feminine, Edward was going to have to get a haircut from a barber later on. Although Mustang didn’t think Edward was going to be happy about it at all. Edward realized that this would be the perfect chance to get Mustang alone with him so he got up and ran into the bathroom. Although he was planning to look at the mirror and let out a scream of fake horror, he let out a real one.

“Real sensitive about his hair, isn’t he?” Steve and Tony watched the foreigners with amusement as Edward marched back into the room, grabbed a pair of scissors from the table and dragged Mustang into the bathroom. The both of them saying something along the lines that Mustang had to fix his hair and the man himself was saying that he had no idea how to cut hair.

“What are you doing?! I don’t know how to cut hair!” Edward slammed the door before looking at him and saying very loudly with a blank look on his face.

“Shut the fuck up and help me fix this mess!” Mustang got the cue and yelled out a response of defeat before they both started to whisper to each other.

“What’s going on?!” Edward ran his hands through his hair, scowled at the shortness before letting out a shaky sigh. The reality of the situation was starting to get to him. That he only had two weeks to get back to his world to save his brother and well. He wanted to let out a few tears before getting to work. Mustang felt his heart pain at the sight of his youngest subordinate losing his composure like this, the only other time he lost it like this was after the Tucker incident

“We got a huge fucking problem.”


	23. Aftermath of Truth's Visit

Mustang sat down on the edge of the bathtub as he tried to take in what Edward told him. Two weeks, they had two weeks before Alphonse’s body died. 

This was a beautiful fucking situation they had gotten themselves into. Edward himself was making a horrible cut of his hair to make it look like Mustang had done his best to cut his hair. Well, truthfully, he was trying his best to cut it but just to save face, he’ll just say that he did it on purpose. As soon as he realized that there was no saving his hair. He set down the scissors with a sigh, looked over at Mustang.

“You fucking idiot! How did you fuck up my hair this bad!?” Edward gave a pointed look at Mustang before storming out of the bathroom as if he was pissed at Mustang. Although Mustang wanted to sit there a little bit longer to try and get his thoughts together, he had to chase after Edward to make it seem like nothing was going on. Running out of the bathroom, he caught up with him with some fake emotion on his face.

“It’s not that bad Edward!”

“Like hell it isn’t!” Both of them were impressed by the others' acting skills and quick thinking that were allowing them to put up the façade seamlessly. While Tony was laughing his ass off at Edward's new haircut. It looked bad before and now it was even worse. Steve felt bad for the young man and put his hand on Edward's shoulder, catching his attention.

“I’m sure we can take you to a barber shop later on, now,” Steve nudged Tony so he could stop laughing and pay attention, something he didn’t do. 

“Would either one of you care to explain what just happened?” the two alchemists, exchanged looks, trying to decide how what they should tell the natives of that world. Edward chewed on the inside of his cheek nervously before hesitantly answering them. 

“Well, do you remember the portal that brought us here?” Tony rose an eyebrow and waved his hand around sassily. 

“I fail to see how this relates to what just happened but continue.” Steve shot Tony a glare for his comment, a glare that went ignored. The alchemists cringed before Edward started to explain.

“Well…in our world, there’s this god called Truth.” Steve made a face at that.

“Truth?”

“Yes,” Mustang cut in with a scowl on his face as he continued to explain, “Truth is a being that controls almost everything in our world. I’m going to assume that he doesn’t like that we were transported here without his permission?” Edward nodded his head, his shortened bangs going into his eyes, much to his annoyance. 

“Yeah, he gave me some information to help us get home, but since he believes in equivalent exchange, he decided to be a dick and take my hair in exchange for the information.” Mustang rose his eyebrows in false surprise.

“He did?” Edward nodded his head solemnly.

“Yeah, I was lucky that he just took my hair and not anything else.” Although Steve and Tony were a little bit confused, they just went along with it. Tony clapped his hands together with a grin on his face.

“Great! So, what’s next? Did he tell you anything else?” Edward's expression tightened for a second, his eyes glancing over at Mustang, silently asking the older man if he should tell them the truth. The glance did not go unnoticed and peaked Tony’s and Steve’s curiosity. Mustang met Edwards glance and gave him a single, firm nod, giving Edward the go-ahead to tell the men the truth. 

“He…we- “Edward let out a heavy sigh before pushing his bangs out of his face, Edwards hesitation made Steve and Tony exchange looks,” …You know I have a brother, right?” he continued when he got their nods,” Well…Truth told me that I only have two weeks to get back to my world, or my little brother is going to die. So, I-” Mustang elbowed him in the ribs when he said that, getting a glare in return, “We, we only have two weeks to get back…” Edward trailed off as he left his head fall. The feeling of defeat spread throughout his body for a second. 

Steve and Tony stood in shock at the news, while Mustang just looked down at the floor grimly, his face in a pinched expression. Edward ran his hand through his hair in the silence, anger quickly spreading throughout his body when his bangs fell back into his eyesight. 

“Ugh!” his sudden outburst made everyone but Mustang jump, Edward groaned as he ran both hands through his hair. The usual look of determination and stubbornness making its reappearance in his face. ” Fuck this! First I’m getting to get my stupid haircut and then we are going to figure this shit out!” Edward nearly tore his hair out before letting go of his hair and turning to Mustang, his finger in his face. 

“I’m going to go and get this bullshit,” he dramatically motioned towards his hair,” fixed, you stay here and keep on researching, I’ll write down everything I learned in the meantime. “without letting any of them give him their input, he stopped out of the room and entered the elevator. They didn’t need to be in the elevator with him to know that he practically smashed the button to the first floor before the doors closed. They all stood in silence, slightly surprised by Edward's sudden outburst before they started moving again. 

“I better go with him, before he gets himself into trouble. “Tony and Mustang absentmindedly hummed in agreement as Steve left for the stairs. 

“I’m going to go and research,” Mustang turned on his heel, following Steve as they went through the door to the stairway right behind each other. Steve was going to the ground floor to help Edward fix his hair, and Mustang going to keep on researching in Edward's bedroom. They just left Tony standing in the living room. He let out a puff of air, letting it puff up his cheeks as it escaped his lips. 

“Well,” Tony turned to go to the drink cabinet.”

“Fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been a while, my fellow wattpadians, if you are here, nice to see that you liked my story enough to come here, especially since im going to be deleting my wattpad account soon, so thank you for making the transition !


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